


Addition to the Family

by ceasefire



Series: Gratuitous NoiAo Mpreg Kidfic 'verse [1]
Category: DRAMAtical Murder
Genre: 69 (Sex Position), Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Established Relationship, Hand Jobs, M/M, Morning Sickness, Mpreg, Oral Sex, Parenthood, Post-Canon, Pregnant Sex, Rimming, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-02
Updated: 2014-03-05
Packaged: 2017-12-28 05:19:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 51,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/988163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ceasefire/pseuds/ceasefire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Noiz and Aoba face a large and unexpected hurdle in their relationship after Aoba starts showing some peculiar symptoms.</p><p>A look at Noiz and Aoba's relationship as they prepare for parenthood.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sick

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Quarrelsome](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quarrelsome/gifts), [fio13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fio13/gifts).



> I really needed to get this idea out of my head. Please don't judge.
> 
>  **EDIT (April 2015):** This fic was written and completed long before Noiz's drama CD was released, and so some details are now inaccurate (Noiz's brother being named Oliver rather than Theo, Noiz's real name just being Noiz instead of Wim, etc.). I've decided to leave the fic as it is rather than editing it to accommodate the drama CD canon. Please accept my apologies for this if it breaks your immersion or anything like that!

It all started out innocently enough, just like any other morning they'd ever spent together in their home in Germany. With one massive exception.

The alarm clock on the bedside table went off at six a.m. sharp. Noiz groaned, reached out with one hand to switch off the alarm and pulled Aoba closer to him with the other. Aoba groaned in turn and squirmed into the side of Noiz's body to share in the heat of his skin, and they both fell back asleep.

At quarter past six Usagimodoki's alarm went off, sending all of the tiny rabbit cubes rolling and bouncing around the room in a simultaneous chorus of high-pitched squeaks. Noiz grit his teeth and sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes with the back of his hand. Waiting for the right moment, he grabbed the main cube of the bunch and shut off the master alarm. He then threw the cube across the room and snuggled back down into the sheets, but not before giving Aoba a kiss on the forehead.

At half past, Ren jumped up onto the bed, carefully navigating the lumps and ripples in the sheets until he was able to jump over the edge of the quilt and up to the empty space beside Noiz's head.

"Noiz, wake up."

Noiz sighed and finally gave up the idea of sleeping in. Yawning loudly, he rolled over and reached for the spot where Aoba would usually be sleeping by his side, only to find it completely bare. The sheets were cold and the covers were tossed back, causing Noiz to frown and look at Ren.

"Where's Aoba?"

The allmate's ears drooped a little in worry, and he turned around and jumped off the bed, looking over his shoulder at Noiz as if imploring him to follow.

"He has already been awake for about ten minutes."

Noiz followed Ren down the hall and to the main bathroom in their apartment. Noiz gave Ren a confused look, which immediately changed to a look of disgust and worry as he heard Aoba gag and retch from behind the door.

"His physical health readings are strange," Ren stated, sitting by the door. "And his emotional wavelengths are poor."

"Aoba, are you okay?" Noiz called through the door. 

He didn't even get a coherent reply before Aoba started vomiting again.

* * *

"I'm calling in," Noiz said firmly. The bacon in the frying pan in front of him popped loudly as he poked at it with the spatula, and Aoba gave him a dirty look from the kitchen table that was made more severe by his drawn appearance and the dark rings around his eyes.

"I'm fine, Noiz. I feel better now," he said. "Besides, you can't just do whatever you like because your family owns the company. What will your colleagues think?"

"My brother won't care," Noiz replied, deadpan. "And I don't think my father's opinion of me can get much lower anyway."

Satisfied that the bacon was coming along nicely, Noiz turned to the meal he'd been preparing for Aoba. He picked up an apple and sliced it into fine slivers with the knife, grabbed a plain bread roll from the bread bin on the counter and took both to Aoba, alongside a small bunch of grapes and a glass of water. Aoba nodded his thanks and took a tiny nibble from the crust of the roll.

A few minutes passed in silence, with Aoba eating and Noiz tending to his own breakfast. Aoba sighed lightly, and Noiz hummed in question.

"Are you almost done cooking?" Aoba asked. "Sorry, it's the smell..."

"Almost done," Noiz reassured him, and Aoba swallowed audibly. It wasn't even a minute later that a short gasp escaped Aoba's lips, and Noiz looked around sharply to check on him.

"N-Noiz," Aoba whimpered, and a few seconds later Noiz found himself supporting Aoba and guiding him to the bathroom.

Noiz found himself sitting precariously on the edge of their bathtub, half-dressed in his work suit, holding back Aoba's hair and rubbing his back as he knelt over the toilet bowl and emptied his stomach.

"I'm calling in," Noiz repeated, tone stern. "And you're going to the doctor."


	2. Joke

Noiz hummed softly and tapped the end of his pen against the paper on his desk, beneath the dotted line on the bottom that required his signature. The paper was to make a verbal agreement between his brother and the boss of another company official on paper, but because it related to networking, it had been left on his desk to be checked over for inaccuracies and mistakes. Despite the urgent nature of the task -- if the red ink stamp up the top of the paper was anything to judge by -- Noiz found himself unable to concentrate on it.

It had been weeks since Aoba had first gotten sick, and the cause of his illness was still a mystery. At first it had seemed to be a simple stomach bug or case of food poisoning, and the doctor had sent Aoba home with tablets for the nausea and orders to rest. Aoba's condition hadn't improved much with time, and the focus had switched from temporary illness to things that were more long-term, such as allergies and intolerance to the new diet he had in Germany. When those had also turned up nothing, the tests had progressed to more serious things. In the last few days Aoba had had just about every bodily fluid he could produce checked for abnormalities multiple times, and today he was going in for specialist examinations. 

Probably another useless attempt to find out anything at all that could be the cause of his sickness. It definitely wasn't like Aoba to fake or exaggerate these things, which made the whole process and the disbelief of the doctors even more frustrating.

Sighing, Noiz clicked his tongue irritably and refocused on his task. He held his pen properly between his fingers and signed at the bottom of the first page, tired of reading over the same few paragraphs repeatedly. As he flipped the page over, his eyes drifted to the small green and black digital clock on the edge of the desk. Aoba would have finished up at the doctor already. As for the clock itself, Aoba had bought it for him just before he'd gotten sick; although he often scolded Noiz for spending money frivolously, Noiz had found out that Aoba was just as bad as he was, and often spent money on small gifts he thought Noiz would like.

Noiz smiled gently and folded the paper down, eyes scanning the second page of the document. Honestly, he liked just about anything that Aoba gave him, especially when he was unable to see him at the office due to the mystery illness he was afflicted with. It reminded him of home.

With much more dedication than he'd usually put into a task so trivial, Noiz managed to complete what had been asked of him in what he considered to be an admirable time. The phone on his desk rang just as he finished signing off on the papers, and Noiz picked it up with one hand as he flipped the papers back to their original position with the other. It was his brother, checking whether he was done yet, and Noiz was all too happy to confirm that he'd struggled through and managed to get them done by the deadline. Leaning back in his office chair and crossing one leg over the other as his brother happily chatted about lunch meetings and celebrating the pending deal, Noiz noticed someone poking their head around his office door.

"Sorry, sir..."

Noiz excused himself from the phone call and watched as the temp secretary his father had hired to fill in for Aoba shuffled into the room. She was a hard and dedicated worker, but a little too twitchy and nervous for Noiz's liking. Besides, work wasn't nearly as fun when Aoba wasn't right in the next room to keep him.... _entertained_.

"You received a call from a Mister Seragaki, saying that he wants to meet with you immediately."

Noiz's stomach gave an uncomfortable lurch.

"Did he say where?"

The secretary faltered. "At your apartment, sir. Should I tell him that you're unavailable?"

Noiz frowned deeply. Aoba would never do something like this unless there was some sort of emergency, and he'd just been to the doctor...

Noiz picked the phone back up and handwaved the replacement secretary away.

"Hey, I'm taking an early mark."

The sound that echoed down the phone line made Noiz worry that his brother had swallowed his own tongue in shock.

"There's too much to do!"

"Something is wrong with Aoba. He just got back from the doctor and he said he needed to see me right away," Noiz said, as if it settled the matter, and his brother sighed.

"He's been unwell recently, right? Then I guess it can't be helped."

"I'll come in early tomorrow to make up for it," Noiz said, and he hung up before he could hear another complaint from the other end of the line.

* * *

Noiz didn't manage to get back to their apartment until the late afternoon. He sat in the traffic, frustrated by the time it was taking him to get home when Usagi-modoki hopped from his bag onto the dash board to alert him of an incoming call. Usually he would've have let it go, but the name that appeared made him pull over and answer the call.

"Aoba?"

"Ah, so you're on the way home after all," Aoba said. Noiz didn't know why, but the tone of his voice sounded... not like himself.

"Yeah. I'll be there soon, so wait for me."

"... thanks," came the short reply, and Noiz barely had time to feel surprised before the line went dead.

Gritting his teeth and gripping the wheel, Noiz pulled back onto the road with a flurry of car horns blaring behind him. Something was definitely wrong, and he could tell Aoba needed his help.

When Noiz finally reached their home, he could see from the road that their apartment was shrouded in complete darkness, save for one dim light that he could see from the window that faced the road. Once the car was parked and everything was secure, Noiz half-jogged up to the apartment and opened the door, only to have it hit something when it was halfway open.

"Ouch," came the voice from the other side of the door, and after a few seconds of shuffling sounds and movemeny, Noiz was able to open the door freely.

"Aoba?"

It became obvious that Aoba had been sitting in the doorway, waiting for him to get home. His face looked drawn, but he managed a half-smile as Noiz stepped through the door.

"Ah, you're home."

"I said I was on my way home," Noiz said, shrugging off his jacket and loosening his tie. "Are you alright? You don't look well."

"Ah, sorry," Aoba said shortly, not bothering to elaborate. Noiz noticed, for the first time, several crumpled sheets of paper within the tight grasp of Aoba's fight.

"What's that?"

Aoba swallowed so audibly that Noiz was afraid he was going to be sick again, but he simply held the paper out wordlessly in shaking fingers.

"J-just read it."

Noiz read over the pieces of paper once, and then immediately flipped back to the front page in disbelief, ready to read again. The words didn't change the second time, nor the third... but nor did they make any more sense to him, because all he could think when he read the doctor's report was _it must be a joke_.

Finally finding his voice, Noiz looked at Aoba , only to watch as Aoba looked away, expression stricken.

"Aoba..."

"Apparently," Aoba said, voice once again unnaturally high and strained, "I'm pregnant."


	3. Support

"I'm sorry, sir," came the voice from the other end of the phone line, "but I cannot release private patient information to anyone but the patient himself, or their listed next of kin."

Noiz tightened his grip on the receiver to stop himself from shaking, but all it did was make it worse. He adjusted his hold, feeling the sweat on his palm cooling in the air as he swallowed against the lump in his throat.

"My name is Noiz. I'm listed as the next of kin for Aoba Seragaki."

His eyes moved by themselves as he spoke. Aoba was across the room, sitting on their bed, curled up in a ball at the top of the bed and avoiding Noiz's eyes. He had stayed completely silent since the start of the call, responding only in nods and shakes of his head. Noiz was worried, but also slightly relieved; Aoba looked so deathly pale righy now that Noiz was afraid he'd be sick if he opened his mouth.

The voice at the other end of the phone requested a few more personal details to confirm his identity, and then Noiz was transfered to another line. Some sort of classical music began playing through the ear piece, and Noiz tapped his fingers against the surface of his desk as he waited to be taken off hold. Despite the fact that the irritating tune was being played directly into one of his ears, Noiz felt like the sound of Aoba's strained, uneven breaths drowned out every other sound in the room, like he was suddenly hyper-aware of every little thing that was abnormal about the way Aoba was.

A soft clicking sound cut off the hold music, and a deep voice came through the phone.

"Your name is Noiz, correct?"

Noiz sat up in his desk chair. "You're the doctor that examined Aoba today?"

"Yes, I was the one who performed Mister Seragaki's ultrasound today. My name is Doctor Keller," the man responded, sounding not at all deterred by Noiz's rudeness. Noiz hummed in the affirmative, and a soft sigh came through the phone.

"I assume that you're phoning to talk about the diasnosis I made today."

All of the confusion and anger Noiz was feeling seemed to rush to the surface at the sound of the doctor's voice, and Noiz's response to him came through tightly grit teeth.

"Do you think Aoba being sick is something to joke about?!"

"I can assure you, this is no joke. If you think that I would be so unprofessional as to make a false diagnosis... well, I will never convince you otherwise," Keller said. "And I assure you, I was just as shocked as Mister Seragaki was about this. But to the best of my knowledge, he is indeed with child."

Noiz said nothing, and the doctor took it as a signal to continue.

"I saw the fetus during a routine part of the ultrasound. It has its own heartbeat, and it seems to be developing normally for its gestational age. The only thing unusual about the situation is that it is growing inside what seems to be an otherwise typical example of a human who is biologically male."

There was a moment of silence in which Noiz tried to absorb the information he'd just been given. Doctor Keller cleared his throat.

"I didn't mention what I saw right away. After all, who would believe it without further proof? I sent Mister Seragaki for blood and urine tests, both of which came back positive. In other words... he is, without a doubt, pregnant."

Noiz swallowed thickly and, finally finding his voice, uttered the only word that came to mind.

"How?"

"That we don't know. As I said, as far as we can tell, Mister Seragaki is otherwise completely healthy. Some of my colleagues suggested keeping him hospitalized indefinitely..."

"Why, so they could run experiments?" Noiz interrupted.

"Well, there's no denying his condition is unique..." Keller started, and Noiz scowled. 

"You can't have Aoba."

"We won't hold him against his will. Physically, he's completely healthy, but there was some concern for his emotional state. Such a shock would affect anyone."

Noiz stayed silent for a moment, his gaze moving to Aoba. He still hadn't moved and Noiz realised that when he was curled up like that, looking as if the weight of the very world was crushing him down, he looked very small and vulnerable. He was suddenly itching to hold Aoba, but he stayed on the line for the sake of getting as much information as he could.

"If it's possible, please try and watch over Mister Seragaki to the best of your ability."

Noiz frowned, feeling determination welling up in his chest.

"I will."

"Good," Keller said. "Incidentally, he's been booked in for another scan in two weeks time, same time as today. That will be the twelve week scan. The fetus is about ten weeks along right now. Of course, if there are any problems in the meantime he's welcome to contact the hospital at any time. We're working blind here, so any concern is a valid one."

"Okay," Noiz said, eyes still on Aoba's fragile-looking form. 

"Good. Look after him."

The line went dead and Noiz hung the receiver back up, taking a few deep breaths to steady himself. Aoba needed him right now, needed his support and comfort, and if one of them needed to be strong while the other struggled, then Noiz was more than willing to be the one to stand up and be there for Aoba until he could stand on his own.

No matter what happened, he'd be there for him through this.


	4. Heart to Heart

"Aoba?" Noiz murmured, placing a hand on the other man's shoulder as he sat down on the bed. Aoba was still curled up against the pillows at the top of the bed, and he jumped and gasped at Noiz's touch. Silently, Noiz wondered if Aoba had even been aware that he'd come over to him before he'd touched him.

Now that the phone call was done and he had a whole evening to talk to and spend with Aoba, Noiz found himself at a frustrating loss for words. He sat for a few minutes in silence, trying to find the right words as his fingers traced what he hoped were soothing circles on Aoba's shoulder. In the end, all he could think to say was the first, natual, hopeless thing that came to mind.

"I'm sorry."

Aoba said nothing, but the tension in his frame seemed to become more pronounced at Noiz's words.

"It's unbelievable. It's like some sort of screwed-up joke..." Noiz continued, running his free hand through the front of his hair in frustration. He was about to continue, not really knowing what he was going to say but desperately wanting to break the silence nonetheless, but a soft laugh from beside him cut him off. 

Aoba seemed to come undone then, seemed to go in the opposite direction of where he had been just seconds ago. Every part of him seemed to be trembling, shaking so severely that he had trouble steadying himself enough to sit up. Noiz helped him, wrapped his arms around him and helped him sit up properly, until he was settled back against the head of the bed. After a few seconds, he opened bloodshot golden eyes to look at Noiz.

Noiz grimaced a little at the sight; Aoba's eyes looked borderline raw, and it mustn't have been comfortable. "Are you okay?"

"Not really," Aoba muttered. He sounded weak and congested from crying, but there was a humorless tone of amusement in his voice still, despite the hopelessness that outweighed it. Noiz sighed and held Aoba closer, tighter. He hated feeling so lost and useless, like he'd failed to protect Aoba and keep him safe and happy. He must have been holding a little too tight, coz Aoba shifted uncomfortably until he released him.

"That was what I said when the doctor first told what... what was wrong with me," Aoba murmured, unable to find a nicer way of putting it. When Noiz looked at him, clearly confused, Aoba looked away with a small, sad smile on his face.

"They said it... that there was something there. When they looked closer they told me that... well, you know, I guess. And I laughed. Said that there was a mistake, that it was a joke."

Noiz sat silently as Aoba spoke, unwilling to interrupt him even to offer support or comfort. This was the most he'd heard Aoba speak since he'd come home and been told the news, and he wanted to make sure he heard as much as he could from Aoba himself. It was one thing to hear it all rattled back to him by a doctor with nothing to offer but good luck and good intentions, but he wanted to know Aoba's deeper feelings beyond the surprise and shock before he made up his own mind.

After a few slow breaths, Aoba continued. "I was laughing. Not like it was funny... I was just hoping it was some sort of mistake, something stupid I could look back on and laugh at. But then..."

Aoba's expression changed into something unreadable for a second, and it worried Noiz. He'd gotten good at reading at Aoba since they'd been together, so seeing him look so strange was worrying. Noiz looked away for a moment, alllowing himself the few same, calming breaths Aoba had taken just moments before, and when he looked back he was surprised to see Aoba's lips downturned, his body tense and his eyes shining with fresh tears.

"But then," Aoba continued thickly, voice trembling, "the doctor turned the monitor around, and he pointed at the screen. It was the heart. The baby's heart. I could see it beating."

Noiz stayed silent and still. He felt a strange sort of nausea overwhelm him, like his heart was trying to scale his throat and jump out of his body.

"And the worst part of it," Aoba continued, bitter laughter working its way into his voice again, "was all I could think after that was why it happened to _me_. How it happened. But why me?"

Noiz felt guilt press down on him, grounding him. He felt bad for even worrying at all, for ever getting annoyed. Nothing he felt right now could compare to what Aoba was feeling, and all he could do was try in vain to offer him any sort of support.

Noiz leaned back towards Aoba, wrapping his arms around him tightly and drawing him towards him. Aoba seemed a little surprised by the gesture, but Noiz held him gently but firmly even as he tried to squirm away.

"I'm here," Noiz murmured, tucking Aoba's head under his chin. "I'm right here with you, so don't even think that you'll have to deal with this alone."

They'd made that promise, separate but unified when they'd escaped Oval Tower together as it had collapsed around them. That wasn't something that Noiz had taken lightly; it had been early on and already he'd never felt that way for another person, and it had only gotten stronger. 

He'd said he would look out for Aoba from then on, and he'd meant it.

Aoba shivered in Noiz's embrace, exhaled warm against his chest and stilled.

"Noiz... I need to..."

"Do whatever you need to do," Noiz said. "I'm staying right here with you."

Noiz felt Aoba relax into him, and he sat in silence as Aoba let out his fears and frustrations in any way that he could think of. Sometimes he cried, sometimes his body felt so tense in Noiz's embrace that the younger man was worried he would lash out with no warning, and sometimes he simply sat in silence, fingers curled into the front of Noiz's damp business shirt like it was his lifeline.

It was almost an hour and a half later before they reached a point where the silence was no longer punctuated by Aoba's shallow breaths and sobs, and Noiz gently adjusted their positions until Aoba was sitting far enough away from him for them to look at each other properly. Aoba's eyes were even redder, his eyelashes were still wet and his nose was running, but all Noiz did was laugh softly and reach up to wipe his face clean with the inside of his own shirt sleeve.

"Feeling better?"

"A little," Aoba said, looking away for a second before looking back to Noiz. "Thanks. For everything."

"It's fine," Noiz said, and he reached out to take one of Aoba's hands in his own. "Are you feeling well enough for me to ask you a few things?"

"It's not as if I'm on my deathbed, brat," Aoba said, taking his hand back and reaching up to pinch the tip of Noiz' nose between thumb and forefinger. "Besides... you have the right to know everything I know."

"Okay," Noiz said, and he frowned. "I don't like starting like this."

"Like what?" Aoba asked, looking suspicious.

"What you want to do."

"... oh. Well... I have until the next scan to decide," Aoba said shortly. "They don't really know how they'd... do that. Get rid of it. Trial and error, I guess. I don't really want to think about it now. But..."

"I understand," Noiz said quickly, but Aoba shook his head.

"It's okay. I was going to say... I think that I want to do this. Maybe. We have some time to think about it, but I don't think I could go through with it, and I'm not sure they could guarantee I'd be okay at the end. Not that they have any way of knowing what carrying a baby would do to me either," Aoba said awkwardly, but Noiz stayed silent and let him take his time. "But... I mean... I want to try. So if you want to try..."

Noiz suddenly felt confused, and it must have shown on his face. Aoba looked half-annoyed and half-embarrassed as he began to speak again.

"They don't know how this happened, but if you think about how pregnancy naturally happens..."

Noiz watched as Aoba's face went red, and when he didn't respond in the right amount of time, Aoba glared gently and poked Noiz between the eyes.

"Put two and two together, brat."

"... _ah_ ," Noiz said, feeling a little dumbstruck by the revelation. It made perfect sense and none at the same time, and he decided that trying to put his feelings on the matter into words was better left alone when he felt this incoherent.

"I want to think I can do this. That we can do this," Aoba said, looking down at his own stomach. Perhaps it was just his imagination playing tricks on him, but Noiz swore that he was looking just a little bit rounder around the middle already. "It's ours, after all."

Noiz smiled and pulled Aoba close, into his lap for a gentle kiss.

"If you're happy, I am. If it's okay with you, I want to try to make this work."

Aoba smiled, the first genuine smile Noiz had seen from him all afternoon, and he smirked back.

"By the feel of it, you might be a bit heavier than before already. He, she, they... whatever. Either way, the baby must be well-fed."

The sharp smack he got on the top of his head was worth it to see Aoba go back to normal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah... this won't be all sunshine and rainbows, but they'll make it work. Don't worry!


	5. Growing

Aoba sat inside the tiny, warm and brightly lit waiting room, hands twisting the magazine in his grip into a mess of curled pages. The secretary sitting behind the reception desk stopped typing and looked over the top of her glasses at him. He returned the smile she gave him when their gazes met and quickly placed the remains of the magazine on his lap, trying to flatten the paper back down into a shape that vaguely resembled what a book should look like.

Aoba looked down at the cover and saw some bright-eyed, rosey-cheeked baby staring back at him from the arms of its mother, who was equally bright-eyed and rosey-cheeked and smiling as if she didn't have a care in the world. Aoba tossed the magazine onto the chair next to his own and looked for another source of entertainment, but all he found was more magazines covered in stock photographs of babies looking cute or pregnant women smiling serenely as they cradled their baby bumps tenderly in her hands.

Aoba self-consciously rubbed at the dark skin beneath his eyes with thumb and forefinger and tried to ignore the loud grumbling sounds his own stomach was making in the otherwise quiet waiting room. Perhaps he should have let Noiz take the day off work to keep him company. At least that way, he would have had someone to feel weird with.

The past two weeks had moved by with surprising swiftness. During that time, there had been a lot of talk about the situation with Noiz, and about their plans for the future. They'd talked about starting a family before now, but then it had been much more "if" than "when" and definitely not something they'd seen as happening soon. 

Definitely not something they'd thought would happen like this, Aoba thought dryly as he looked down at the tiny hint of roundness that was beginning to show through his shirt. Despite the shock and surprise of the whole situation, despite every positive seeming to have ten matching negatives, he couldn't bear the thought of terminating. It was strange to think that this had happened to him and he wasn't the type to think that everything happened for a reason, but he already felt a strange sort of connection to the baby and its potential place in their lives. 

It wasn't going to be easy either way, but knowing that he wasn't going to go through it alone made it much easier. By now he supposed he should have come to expect that sort of loyalty from Noiz but the brat still managed to surprise him from time to time. Noiz had made it clear that he would support him regardless of what he chose to do, and then settled himself comfortably into reassuring Aoba that they could handle any problem they encountered along the way, no matter how big or small.

What if there wasn't enough room in the apartment? Well, of course they could move to a bigger place once the baby grew older, but while it was still small they could convert the study into a nursery and move the desk in the study into the living room. 

How would they get everything they needed to get to care for the baby? How would they learn to care for the baby full stop? They had plenty of time to get everything and plenty of time to learn, and there wouldn't be a single person who knew everything about raising a child anyway. 

Was Noiz okay with this happening so soon, while he was so busy with work and so young? He was if Aoba was okay too. That one was usually accompanied by a smile.

From the start Aoba could tell that Noiz wanted to help him, wanted to be a good parent. That had hurt Aoba a little deeper than he thought it would when he remembered back to the pieces of Noiz's past he'd seen when he'd gone inside his mind in Oval Tower. The underlying tension that remained between Noiz and his parents even now made it more raw for Aoba, and he sighed softly and linked his hands in his lap, just shy of touching the tiny swell of his belly. 

That was part of it too, he supposed. He was Noiz's family too, maybe even moreso than the other man's own parents, and the thought of giving Noiz another chance at having a family who showed nothing but love and affection for him filled Aoba with an emotion he couldn't quite describe. Noiz had been nothing but supportive since he'd moved from Japan and all through the last fortnight as they'd figured out where they had to go and what they had to do now, and Aoba wanted him to be happy just as much as Noiz wanted the same for him.

"Aoba Seragaki?"

Aoba was stirred from his thoughts by the sound of his own name, and he looked up to see an unfamiliar doctor looking at him from the hallway that led to the examination rooms. He stood up and walked towards him uncertainly, only slightly reassured by the warm smile he got as he reached him.

"Ah, am I not with Doctor Keller?" Aoba asked.

"He's not here today, but don't worry. He's left specific notes on your file and I'm aware of your circumstances," the other man said, stepping aside to let Aoba walk past. "I'm Doctor Klein. Doctor Keller and I colleagues and I can assure you, you will be cared for to the best of our abilities."

"Okay," Aoba said, feeling a little better. He was worried that he would have to explain the situation to someone who might not understand, or who might ridicule him. At least with everything explained to the doctor by his colleague, it would save Aoba time and the difficulty of doing it all himself.

The room he found himself in was not the same one as two weeks ago, but it was very similar. Dim lights, medical equipment in pristine condition and in the middle of it all, the tiny medical bed he'd lie on for the examination. He assumed it would be similar to the last scan, so he sat himself down on the edge of the bed and waited for the doctor to prepare.

"You can lie down if you want," Doctor Klein said, looking around the ultrasound machine to get a better view of Aoba. "Make yourself comfortable, I'll be ready in just a moment."

Aoba took the chance and swung his legs up onto the bed and spread out flat on top of it. The only thing that held his head up was a small, extremely flat pillow at the top of the bed, and so there wasn't much to look at except for the sterile white roof of the room or his own feet. He looked down, and a sudden wave of amusement flowed through him.

Perhaps it was only his imagination, but compared to the last time he was here, he could see a little bit less of his own feet poking up from behind his stomach.

Even though it was only the slightest amount, it seemed that the baby had grown.

Aoba was still smiling about it when Doctor Klein came over to prepare him for the ultrasound.

"Feeling good about today's examination?"

Aoba realised that the doctor must have seen the way he was smiling, and quickly looked away.

"Ah, not really. I mean, I don't think anything is wrong, but that wasn't the reason I was happy," Aoba said. "I was just thinking that the baby must have grown already."

"Well..." Klein said, flipping through Aoba's file briefly. "Your last time here was two weeks ago?"

Aoba nodded, and the doctor placed the file down and held up both hands, leaving a small amount of space between them.

"It would have been about this big then. Now..." 

The space between the doctor's hands grew, but not by as much as Aoba would have guessed.

"This would be about the average size at twelve weeks."

Aoba figured he must have looked disappointed or confused, because Klein laughed.

"Don't worry, there's plenty of time left for growing. Shall we get started? We've got quite a bit to get through today. After the scan today you'll be going down the hall to see one of the midwives... it should be quite exciting though. You should be able to hear the heartbeat this time, not just see it."

Aoba nodded and pulled up his shirt, feeling his own heart beginning to beat a little faster at the thought. A few moments later the doctor was upending a bottle over his exposed skin. The gel that hit his stomach was cold and the texture was kind of gross, but Aoba managed to take it without much more than a small grimace of displeasure. The first time had been another story, but that time he hadn't been prepared for what was coming.

It was amazing what a bit of hindsight and perspective could do.

Sighing softly and closing his eyes to calm himself, Aoba did his best to relax as he felt the first press of the ultrasound machine's probe on his belly. It was a little on the uncomfortable side of firm, and he half-wished that he had his headphones to distract him. But he wanted to hear what the doctor had to say too.

A few seconds and a few slow, even movements of the probe later and the doctor let out a low hum.

"There we go, we've got a picture now."

Aoba opened his eyes and looked up at the screen, swallowing against the lump in his throat as he saw the vaguely human outline lit up on the screen in black, white and blue. Now that the shock of the previous time was wearing off and he was beginning to get used to everything, Aoba had time to calm down and focus on what he saw on the screen, to let it really sink in. What he saw on the screen was still a little bit alien, but he could see where the baby was beginning to form and grow, and he could see some of the finer features of their child better now.

Aoba squinted at the screen and gave a weak smile. "Is he..."

"Well, not 'he' for sure, you'll have to wait a while to know that," the doctor said with a laugh, "but you can see the baby moving, right?" 

He pointed to a place on the screen just below a spot that Aoba figured was the baby's head.

"You can see the arms moving there. It seems like you're going to have an active one on your hands."

Aoba watched the shadowy movements, the tiny motion as their child curled each hand into a fist for a moment before letting their hand fall slack, and a strange, strong wave of emotion rolled over him and tied his stomach in knots.

"Are you okay?" Doctor Klein asked. "It can be emotional, of course."

"... yeah," Aoba muttered, watching the image for a few more seconds before tearing is gaze away from the screen to look at the doctor. "Ah, I have a favour to ask."

"Yes?"

"Well," Aoba said, feeling his own face beginning to heat up. "My... partner... has a job that means he can't really take time off. Or shouldn't, at least. So I was wondering if it was possible to take photos with my Coil to show him later on, because... I know it would make him really happy to see this."

"We don't actually allow mobile technology to be used because it interferes with the equipment. But we can make a video and stills of the scan and have the receptionist mail it to your coil. It should be ready before we close for the day. Also, remind me to give you something before you leave. You have an allmate, right? Or your partner does?"

Aoba nodded, and the doctor nodded back. "We have a program that can be installed on an allmate that can track the progress of the baby, similar to how they track their owner's vital signs."

"Thank you," Aoba said, feeling relieved. He understood now, even if he still felt guilty about how he'd brushed Noiz off. Noiz worked so hard for both of them -- all of them -- and he shouldn't have to worry about missing things like this because of Aoba worrying over his work. Silently promising he wouldn't do the same again, Aoba settled back against the bed and looked up at the screen again, watching the tiny image of their baby squirming and moving around.

It would be weird to explain it to Ren, though. Ren knew that there was something wrong with him already, but he seemed unable to process the fact that Aoba was with child because his biological gender was registered as male in his programming. Usagimodoki had seemed less confused, but it could have just been repeating back what it was told without really understanding.

"Okay, let's keep going," Doctor Klein said. "We'll try a bit of a different angle here, so tell me if it's uncomfortable."

Aoba let himself fall back into relaxation as the probe moved lower on his belly. It paused in a spot between his stomach and his hip, and Aoba opened his eyes to look at the doctor when it stayed put for longer than was usual.

The probe left his skin after another minute or so, and Aoba gave the doctor a confused look as he turned away from the ultrasound console and stood up.

"Is something wrong?"

"I just need a second opinion on something," Klein said. "May I bring another doctor in to check it?"

Aoba nodded and swallowed. Doctor Klein left the room for a few minutes, leaving Aoba to worry alone about the check, and returned with another doctor; a middle-aged woman dressed less formally than the other doctors. She offered Aoba a small smile as Doctor Klein pressed the probe back to his stomach and pointed out something on the screen.

"This is the head specialist in our unit," Doctor Klein explained. The woman didn't bother introducing herself, but she seemed like she was in a hurry so Aoba didn't bother asking.

A few moments passed in silence, only broken by the sound of the several bangles around the woman's wrist jingling as shs raised her hand to the screen, pointingn and nodding with one slim eyebrow arched.

"Mister Seragaki, is it?"

The woman's accent was so thick that it was a little hard for Aoba to understand, but he nodded. The woman assessed him for a few seconds, her expression unchanged. Then, finally, after a few more moments, the corners of her mouth twitched upwards into a thin, amused smile.

"Perhaps you've heard the word 'congratualtions' a lot since you found out you were expecting," she said. Aoba continued to look and feel confused, and her smile widened.

"I'm sorry, but you're about to hear it one more time."

* * *

Noiz sighed and loosened his tie as he fished in his pockets for the keys to the apartment he shared with Aoba. His Coil had died in the early afternoon, and about two hours before he was due to finish work he'd received an understanding, but slightly passive-aggressive phone call from Aoba asking why he wasn't answering the messages he'd left.

And that was why he was looking for his keys. He couldn't open an electronic lock with a dead Coil.

Just as he was about to give up and start knocking on the door to get Aoba's attention, the door swung open and he found himself standing face-to-face with a pouting Aoba. Noiz couldn't help but laugh; it was barely getting into winter, but the other man was wearing what looked like several layers of sweaters and at least two pairs of socks. 

"I'm home, Aoba," Noiz said, smiling despite his tired tone. He walked over the threshold and dropped his briefcase just inside the door, before pulling it shut behind him and reaching down to place his hands on either side of Aoba's stomach.

"You too."

"You're embarrassing," Aoba sighed, but he couldn't keep his expression straight and began smiling as Noiz passed him and walked into their apartment.

"What's for dinner?" Noiz called back over his shoulder as Aoba followed behind him. "And how did everything go today?"

"I thought we could order pizza," Aoba replied, and he snagged Noiz by the arm before he could go into the kitchen. "Ah, come this way for a moment... the doctors sent me some stuff of the..."

Noiz quirked a brow as Aoba frowned and tightened his grip on his arm before seemingly giving up on trying to explain what was happening.

"Is everything okay, Aoba?"

"J-just come on, okay?" 

Noiz shrugged and let Aoba drag him to their bedroom and pushed him gently onto the bed.

"Hmmm," Noiz hummed, licking his lips and smirking as Aoba climbed up onto the bed to sit beside him and started to play around with his Coil, "I could get used to this."

"Pervy brat," Aoba muttered, cheeks going an adorable shade of pink as he called the files up on his Coil and removed it from his wrist. "There, just look."

Noiz looked away from Aoba and focused on the photos he'd just brought up on his Coil. They were dim, grainy and a little strange to see, but Noiz smiled as he realised what he was looking at.

"So... there's our baby."

"Mmm," Aoba hummed, and he raised a hand to point out the text superimposed over the photograph. "They labelled some stuff on here... like the head and the hands and stuff."

"Heh," Noiz laughed softly. He took it all in, the tiny shape of their child's hands and feet and all the little differences in between the various photos that signified movement. He looked over at Aoba, expecting to see him smiling along with him, but instead he looked nothing short of nervous.

Noiz's face fell slowly, and he reached one arm out to encircle Aoba's waist.

"Something's wrong."

It was a statement, not a question. But instead of living up to his expectations of worry and fear, Aoba's betrayed him and blushed a deep, dark red.

"Look at the next picture."

Noiz frowned down at him for a second before flicking over to the next photo with an easy gesture of his wrist, and his eyes took in the new picture in front on him with a growing sense of anticipation. He squintdd at the tiny, grainy text superimposed over the photo, reread it, licked his lips wet and looked at Aoba, mouth dry with surprise. Aoba said nothing, his face still red, and he avoided Noiz's eyes as he raised one hand to point at the photo.

"There's the first one," Aoba said, pointing to the blurry shape on the picture. His finger drifted to the second, slightly smaller but very real shape on the picture and rested over it gently, as if he were touching the real thing. "A-and there's the second."

Noiz didn't know what to say. His mouth was still dry, but his eyes were suddenly prickling with wetness. It was all a mess of contradictions and he found himself unable to speak through it all, and so he did the first thing that came to his mind.

"O-oi, hey!" Aoba yelped as he found himself tackled flat onto the mattress, Noiz's arms enveloping him so tightly he found it hard it breathe.

"I'm happy," Noiz said finally, holding Aoba close and resting his head on his chest. "I'm so happy."

Aoba sighed gently, clearly relieved, and he reached down to place one hand on Noiz's head.

"Good. It wasn't easy to keep it a secret you know."

"You weren't very good at it," Noiz said, breathing shaky and face still resting on Aoba's chest. "But it's fine."

"Mmm," Aoba hummed, feeling warm and happy as he ran his fingers through Noiz's hair. "I'll let that one slide."

There was a few minutes of silence where they did nothing but lie together, but Aoba tried to sit up after a little while and Noiz moved with him, helping him sit back up.

"Come on, we'll order dinner. Then there's one more thing for you to see."

Noiz looked at Aoba in question, and Aoba smiled back.

"They recorded a video. And the sound of their heartbeats. We can sit and eat pizza and go through it all together, if you want."

Noiz smiled and offered his hand to Aoba to help him off the bed.

"I'm looking forward to it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omg aoba i can't believe you got mpreg outside of marriage
> 
> *sweats nervously coz I titled this fic before I bowed to peer pressure on Twitter*


	6. Half Way

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, and welcome to the porn chapter that doubles the word count of this fic.
> 
> Thank you to Fio for reading this over for me! Also, the title changed! Coz "Plus One also one more after that" just didn't have that title ring to it.

Noiz opened the door to the apartment with a soft sigh of relief, toeing his shoes off in the doorway and loosening his tie as he shut the door behind him. The whole apartment was shrouded in darkness, so he didn't bother calling out for Aoba. He'd said he was probably going to be back late today, due to a late doctor's appointment.

Noiz took a few steps forward, reaching for the light switch above the table in the entrance of the hallway, and promptly kicked his toes on the corner of something large, heavy and foreign in the middle of the hallway. After a few moments of mental cursing and massaging his foot until it stopped throbbing, Noiz managed to flip on the light and find the offending object, and his anger quickly faded away to nothing at the sight.

Two identical boxes sat in front of him, one on top of the other, each covered in sample photographs and diagrams of the bassinets within. Dropping his briefcase down next to his shoes, Noiz picked up the boxes from one corner with considerable effort and leaned them against the wall, out of harm's way. He definitely didn't want Aoba tripping over and hurting himself when he came home. He couldn't really put them in the study yet, either. They'd started clearing it out and converting it into a nursery the previous weekend, but all they'd really accomplished was making the room look like a disorganized mess rather than an organized one. 

Still, he could probably start work on it again that night. It was a better option than reading over the mountain of papers that had been dropped into his in tray five minutes before he'd been due to finish work for the week.

As the date moved closer and closer to Christmas, Noiz had started to appreciate his free time more and more. His family's company would be closed up over Christmas and New Year, and wouldn't be opening again until early January. Unfortunately, that meant having to stay late on most days to clear his backlog of work before the holidays, but he'd been able to reach a compromise with his brother after a few weeks of late nights. They decided that he would leave early on Fridays and, in exchange, he and Aoba would visit his brother on Christmas Day. It wasn't really how he'd wanted to spend the day, but at least he wouldn't have to see his mother and father, and he could still spend the majority of the day with Aoba.

Aoba had insisted on working part-time as his secretary for as long as he could, but now that he was getting bigger it was more difficult to make excuses for his condition. The last thing Noiz wanted was for the whole thing to get out and turn into some media circus, especially because so much of how it had happened and how Aoba's body would adjust to pregnancy remained a complete mystery. It was because of those reasons that they and Aoba's doctors had decided together that it was in Aoba's best interest to rest and relax. Aoba didn't seem particularly happy about it -- Noiz knew how much he hated feeling useless -- and so he sent what little work he could to Aoba to do at home. It wasn't much, but it seemed to alleviate some of the boredom the other man seemed to feel between the multitude of tests and appointments he had to do to check on how their babies were progressing. 

Speaking of the tests, Noiz hoped Aoba would be getting back soon. Today hadn't sounded like anything major, so he figured there must have been some sort of delay at the clinic.

As if on cue, Ren appeared at the end of the hallway, a single Usagimodoki perched precariously on his head. The tiny rabbit cube rolled off Ren's head at the sight of Noiz, squeaking greetings loudly until Noiz opened his briefcase and released its opposite-coloured twin. Both rabbits made a happy, elongated 'P' sound as they were reunited and tumbled under the small table in the entryway together. Noiz stepped around them as they rolled past him, but Ren sat firmly in his path.

"Noiz, welcome home."

Noiz responded to the Allmate with a nonchalant nod. "When is Aoba getting back?"

"His appointment was scheduled to finish a half hour ago."

"Hm," Noiz hummed under his breath, moving to step over Ren. The clinic wasn't that far away, but if any of the doctors were running late he supposed it would delay Aoba's return.

"Noiz."

"What?"

Noiz stopped mid-stride and glanced down at the small dog sitting between his feet. It was then that Noiz noticed the small USB clipped to the back of Ren's collar.

"Aoba requested that you install the software on this flash drive onto me if you returned home before him."

"What is it?" Noiz asked.

"It is a program given to him by one of the doctors he visits, designed to record the physical state of mothers and unborn children."

Noiz searched his memory for a moment. He could vaguely recall Aoba mentioning something about this a few weeks ago; Allmates were usually designed to track the physical state of a single person, though there were modifications that could be made to good models to track entire families or groups of people. It didn't seem like a bad idea.

"Come on," Noiz said, and Ren happily followed him into the main room of the apartment. As he worked his way around the dimly lit room to the light switches on the opposite wall, Noiz spotted a large shape he couldn't identify out of the corner of his eye sitting on top of one of their couches. Once the room was lit up, he realized that the shape was in fact several shapes stacked one on top of the other; plastic bags overflowing with tiny clothes and supplies for their babies. Noiz smiled gently and sat down on one of the free seats, and Ren sat down at his feet and waited patiently for Noiz to pick him up and complete the task Aoba had left for him.

Noiz pulled Ren up into his lap and took the USB off his collar, running his fingers through the fur on the back of the Allmate's neck until they found the cold metal of the installation port. He pushed the USB into the slot and waited as the program installed onto Ren's hard drive. It took less time than he thought it would -- Ren was a an older model after all -- and at the end he put the Allmate back onto the couch next to him.

"That should work."

"The installation appears to have been successful, but I will need Aoba within range to verify," Ren agreed, and he sat down next to Noiz with a curious look. "Noiz."

"What?"

"May I ask a question?"

Noiz looked down at Ren and nodded, and the Allmate tilted his head to the side.

"Aoba has indicated to me that he is biologically male, and human males are unable to conceive children. How was he able to do this?"

Noiz sighed. "We don't know. No one seems to know."

"Aoba is still Aoba, even after this. Are you unhappy about it happening?"

"No," Noiz replied. "More than anything, I'm worried about Aoba and the babies. There's no way to know if everything will be okay. But I'm happy that everything is going well so far. That we'll have a family soon."

"I understand," Ren replied, wagging his tail gently. "I have been tracking Aoba's health throughout his pregnancy and it seems good. With this additional program, I will also be able to track the health of the babies as they develop. With additional upgrades, Usagimodoki and I will be able to track the health of the babies after they are born, up to when they are given their own Allmates."

Noiz nodded, turning his attention to his Coil as it began to beep. "Look after all three of them."

"Of course," Ren said, and Noiz saw him sit up a little more proudly out of the corner of his eye. "The same to you."

Noiz smirked slightly as he brought up the message he'd just received on his Coil. He read through the message with a frown and then got off the couch, going back down the hallway to the front door with Ren on his heels.

"Noiz, are you okay?"

"Yeah," Noiz replied. "Aoba just needs me to pick him up. He doesn't want to drive home by himself because he feels sick after his doctor's appointment."

"I understand," Ren replied, and he sat in front of the door as Noiz put his shoes back on and grabbed his car keys. "Have a safe trip."

Noiz nodded at the Allmate as he closed the apartment door behind him.

* * *

Aoba was waiting outside the clinic when Noiz pulled up, standing in the doorway of the building to avoid the cold and share in the heat that escaped when the door swung open. He smiled at the extent to which Aoba had rugged himself up against the cold and beeped the car horn to catch the other man's attention, and a few seconds later Aoba was in the passenger's seat, sighing happily at the warmth of the car's heating.

"Thanks," Aoba said. "I had blood tests just then, and I know you're busy but I didn't want to drive because I felt faint and..."

Noiz leaned over, gently grabbed Aoba's chin and kissed him soft and deep. When he pulled away, Aoba was blushing and licking his lips, and Noiz smiled at him as he pulled out of the clinic's driveway.

"I finished early anyway, and I don't have to go in this weekend… It's no problem."

"What about the other car?" Aoba asked, and Noiz shrugged.

"It's a company car. I'll get my brother to take care of it if he doesn't want to leave it there over the weekend."

"You trouble him too much," Aoba said in a teasing tone, and he quickly pulled off the heavy jacket he was wearing, tossed it into the back seat and put on his seatbelt. 

"You can say sorry to him if it means that much to you," Noiz said with a dismissive flick of his hand. "He invited us over for Christmas lunch."

"Oh," Aoba said, and Noiz glanced over at him.

"You don't want to?"

"I'm actually more surprised that you did," Aoba admitted with a soft laugh.

"It's my end of an agreement we made," Noiz replied, "and this way I don't have to see my parents, and I can spend the night with you before the babies arrive."

"It's going to be a while before they arrive anyway," Aoba said, glancing down at his stomach. "But I guess you're right, this will be the last quiet Christmas we have."

He glanced up at Noiz again, grinning broadly.

"I bet you'll love it, though. Watching their faces light up as they tear open their presents and run over to hug you and say thank you."

"Shut up," Noiz muttered, and Aoba laughed in return.

The traffic light on the road in front of them turned red, and Noiz guided the car to a slow stop. This time he took his eyes off the road to look at Aoba properly; it was amazing to think that he'd gone from looking barely different a few weeks ago to looking as he did now. Their children had grown a lot, and Aoba had grown to accommodate them as they developed. The bump in his stomach was now very noticeable and near impossible to wave off as something minor, but in his opinion, Aoba was still as perfect as ever. Not only did Aoba still look adorable, but he seemed a lot healthier both mentally and physically than he had been when they'd first found out about the babies. He was happier, more certain of himself and what the symptoms he felt meant, and much more comfortable in his own skin.

And the newfound happiness and comfort definitely had their perks.

"... oi, just what are you smirking about," Aoba questioned, expression deadpan. "And watch the road, the lights are going to change."

Noiz smirked, shook his head and turned back to the road.

* * *

"Welcome back, Aoba."

When they got back to their apartment, Noiz found Ren waiting in exactly the same place he'd left him before picking Aoba up. Aoba smiled gently, put his bag and coat to the side and bent down awkwardly to pick Ren up and nudge their foreheads together.

"I'm back, Ren. Sorry that I keep leaving you behind, but they say Allmates can interfere with the equipment due to being wireless..."

"Understood," Ren responded, and he peeked over Aoba's shoulder to look at Noiz.

"Welcome back, Noiz. Usagimodoki is in the living room."

Noiz nodded and walked through the apartment to the lounge, passing by the boxes in the hall on the way.

"I bought some things for the babies today," Aoba said in a rush. "I thought we could start stocking up on supplies for them, especially since we'll need double than what we originally thought, and a lot of the items were discounted..."

"Money's not an issue here," Noiz replied as Aoba sat on the couch with a relieved sigh. "Just get the best thing you can get. Our son and daughter will have the best."

"You mean our boys," Aoba responded, and Noiz shook his head.

"There's no way to tell if they're both boys yet."

"We don't know if there's a boy and a girl either," Aoba said, stretching out on the largest of the couches with the TV remote. "Besides, we could end up with any combination. I just thought boys would be kind of nice. I always thought it would be cool to have a brother growing up, but I was the only one."

Noiz could relate to that a little. He'd wanted nothing more than to play with his brother when he'd grown up alone, but then, he would have reveled in any sort of company.

A sudden soft thud made Noiz turn around, and he came face to face with the sight of Ren struggling to roll back over onto his stomach after being knocked from the couch by Aoba... or rather, by Aoba's stomach.

"Ren!" Aoba said, leaning down to pick the puppy up and put him in a safer spot up by his head. "I'm sorry, I couldn't see you!"

"No problem," Ren replied, and Aoba sighed as he lay back down.

"Urgh," Aoba groaned, switching on the TV, "my back is killing me too. And my feet. I wonder how bad it will be when they're about to arrive..."

"You can relax," Noiz said quickly, walking over to kiss Aoba on the forehead. "I'll start dinner."

Since they'd started living together, Aoba had gradually been teaching Noiz how to cook properly. It was a good thing that Aoba wasn't too fussed on what he cooked as long as it was somewhat edible. He'd gotten particularly good at cooking his own pasta since Aoba had objected to simply getting delivery food every night.

"Are you sure?" Aoba said, sitting up a little as Noiz nuzzled the tip of his nose against the top of his head. "I can help you if you want. You worked all day." 

Noiz looked down at Aoba and saw how tired he looked after the long day had worn him down. Now that he'd shed the layers of clothes he'd been wearing to account for the heating in the apartment, he could also see the spot where they'd drawn blood. Aoba followed his line of sight to the cotton wool and tape stuck to the inside of his elbow with a shudder.

"I hate needles."

"Mmm," Noiz hummed with a small smile. "I'll cook dinner."

* * *

After dinner, which Aoba had said was particularly good, Noiz had started on the few papers he had left over from the week's work while Aoba left to run himself a relaxing bath in the main bathroom of the apartment. It would probably do Aoba some good to relax, Noiz had thought when Aoba had left, but now it was nearly an hour later and Noiz wouldn't have been surprised to find the bath water ice cold. To give himself something to do, he put both of their Allmates into sleep mode, stripped out of his clothes and settled down in bed with the last of his work, which he quickly perused before abandoning it to the bedside table when he heard the bath draining.

Aoba entered their bedroom a few minutes later, wrapped in a thick blue dressing gown despite the heated room. Noiz watched him as he walked over to the side of the bed and discarded his robe to the side.

"Feeling better?"

"Yeah," Aoba said, wringing a few excess drops of water out of the ends of his hair, "just kind of cold. I kept filling the bath back up with hot water."

"I can turn the heat up if you want," Noiz said, but to his surprise, Aoba turned away and shook his head.

"N-no, that's okay."

Aoba's skin was still a little flushed from the heat of the bath water, but the blush on his cheeks was obvious. Noiz could feel a grin forming on his face, and he reached out to run the back of his hand down Aoba's spine.

"Noiz, I..." Aoba murmured, but Noiz shook his head.

"It's fine."

Aoba nodded once, slowly, and then slid down into bed beside Noiz. As soon as he was comfortable, he leaned forward until his breath mingled with Noiz's between their lips before swiftly and firmly closing the gap between them.

Noiz hummed softly, wrapping both arms around Aoba's body and bringing their bodies as close together as possible. One of his hands came to rest on the curve of Aoba's ass, palm sliding over smooth skin as the other carded into the back of his hair. Noiz caught Aoba's bottom lip between his teeth as they broke the kiss and then laughed softly as he felt Aoba shiver against him.

"No wonder you're cold. You're still wet from the bath."

Aoba swallowed audibly and licked his lips, cheeks reddening visibly as Noiz's hand dipped lower, fingers tracing over the cleft of his ass. Aoba was still a little shy, a little self-conscious about how his body was changing, but Noiz tried his best to reassure him. It was hard to do it with only words, because all Aoba would do is blush and scowl and tell him he was embarrassing him, but actions alone weren't enough either as they didn't quite carry the gravity of words.

Perhaps it would have been strange if it had been anyone else, but Noiz found every new experience amazing when it came to Aoba, and he wanted to prove it to him.

Noiz's smile widened as Aoba's pout and blush became just that little bit more pronounced. The hand he had tangled in Aoba's hair stayed still, but his other hand moved up his spine and came to rest on the small of his back. Noiz leaned in to kiss Aoba once more, softly, but he was caught as Aoba leaned forward and deepened the kiss. His soft moans tickled Noiz's lips as their tongues met, curling around each other as Aoba rocked his hips forward to catch Noiz's attention. Noiz managed to break their kiss after a few more breathless seconds, and he let out a shaky laugh and reached between their bodies to stroke Aoba's cock.

Aoba's breath hitched at the touch, legs spreading and hips rolling forward in a desperate search for more stimulation, and Noiz felt his mouth go dry at the sight. Aoba was hard already, twitching and straining in Noiz's palm as he stroked him from base to tip. After a few minutes of slow, lazy stimulation Noiz began to move faster, putting less care into his movements to give his strokes a rougher edge that made Aoba whimper desperately.

Noiz laughed softly as precum beaded at the slit of Aoba's cock, easing the friction between their skin. Aoba cracked one eye open as Noiz's hand worked over his shaft, spreading the warm fluid along his skin, but he lay back and shut his eyes again when Noiz's pace slowed to a speed that was nothing short of a tease.

"Noiz..."

At the sound of his name Noiz smirked and pulled away, placing his hand back on Aoba's hip. The soft sound that came from Aoba's lips at the loss of Noiz's touch made Noiz ache with want, but he forced himself to move away and instead adjusted his hold on Aoba's body, guiding him until he was lying flat on his back instead of his side. Noiz smiled at the small sigh of relief that left Aoba's lips as he settled himself against the pillows at the top of the bed, and he crawled on hands and knees until he was leaning over Aoba and brushing their lips together.

Aoba responded immediately and strongly, as if the few moments where Noiz hadn't been touching him physically hurt. Noiz jumped in surprise as Aoba's tongue forced its way past his lips and tangled with his own, his movements so desperate and unrefined that spit leaked from the corners of his lips and down his chin. Noiz broke the kiss with a smirk, reaching down to clean Aoba's chin with his thumb.

"Someone's impatient."

"Like you can talk," Aoba muttered, catching his breath as Noiz hovered over him and pressed soft kisses to his forehead, his cheeks, the line of his jaw. His breathing evened and slowed gradually as Noiz kissed him over and over, the younger man's lips covering every inch of his skin except his own lips. Aoba worried his bottom lip between his teeth in frustration, but closed his eyes and arched up when Noiz moved in, looking like he was finally going to kiss him. He waited a few seconds before realizing the kiss wasn't coming, and let out a frustrated whine when he felt nothing more than the warmth of Noiz's breath. 

"Heh. You want it bad, don't you?"

Aoba huffed and refused to answer, staying silent as Noiz's mouth pressed against his throat, nipping at the sensitive skin as he began to move down. Noiz paused at Aoba's chest to swirl his tongue around one nipple and then the other, delighting in Aoba's reactions. When his lips reached the swell of Aoba's belly, he smiled and pressed a short but firm kiss to the smooth expanse of skin. He couldn't feel them moving yet -- though Aoba swore they were starting to jump around and keep him awake -- but he had been able to watch them grow as the tiny bump in Aoba's stomach had gotten larger to accommodate them.

They wouldn't be here for another few months yet, but he already loved them. All three of them, he thought with a smile as Aoba sat up to glare at him over his own stomach.

"Sap."

"For someone who always calls me a perverted brat, you're grumpy when I tease you like this," Noiz observed with a smirk, dodging the weak swing Aoba aimed at the top of his head. "Lie down."

For a second Aoba looked like he was about to comment further, but after the momentary hesitation he relaxed back on the pillow, mindlessly rubbing the spot on his belly that Noiz had kissed as he made himself comfortable. Noiz settled himself between Aoba's legs, smiling as his erection twitched from the near-contact, and Aoba moaned soft and open-mouthed as Noiz's lips covered his cock.

Aoba was already so wet that the taste of him spread across Noiz's tongue before he even started sucking him; the soft gasps that escaped from Aoba's lips as Noiz began to move made Noiz's own cock strain against the bed, and the fingers that reached down to grasp and tug harshly at the tips of his hair brought tears of pain to his eyes. He sucked gently on the head, hand slowly stroking over the skin his mouth didn't cover until he heard Aoba's breath hitch and then pulled off, tongue licking a teasing line down the shaft before he placed a wet kiss at the base of Aoba's cock. Moving lower, he sucked gently on his balls as his hand began working over the entire length. 

"Noiz..." Aoba whispered as Noiz licked the sensitive skin between his balls and his hole, "Noiz, stop."

"Hmm?"

Noiz sat up on his elbows and rested his head on his open palm so he could see Aoba better. Aoba squirmed a little and, moving awkwardly due to the size of his stomach, he sat up and fixed a red-faced but determined look on Noiz.

"I don't like it if it's just you doing everything."

"I do it because I want to. You've had a tiring day. I don't mind because it's you, and I want you to relax," Noiz said, tone serious. Aoba averted his gaze awkwardly and Noiz smirked, fingertips brushing over the sensitive skin beneath Aoba's navel and down to the soft blue hair at the base of his cock.

"Of course, if you really want to do it, I won't complain."

Noiz sat up, allowing Aoba a little extra space to move. 

"Get on your hands and knees. Face towards the top of the bed."

Aoba blushed bright red. "W-what..."

"Hurry up," Noiz replied, cutting him off. Aoba blushed some more and, after shooting a final glare at Noiz, did as he was asked. Noiz couldn't help taking a moment to admire the view. Aoba's legs were parted, cock hard and wet between them. His skin was flushed a light pink from embarrassment and strain, the backs of his trembling thighs were covered in a light sheen of sweat, and he shifted anxiously as Noiz drunk the sight in as if he were dying of thirst. Noiz was just about to make his move when Aoba reached self-consciously beneath his own body with one hand to cradle his belly with a soft 'oh' of surprise. His smirk turned to a frown of concern.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Aoba said, looking back over his shoulder. "They're just jumping around a bit."

Noiz grinned and moved closer, spreading Aoba's ass cheek and ignoring the choked sound of surprise the other man made as he did so. "They'll have to put up with it."

"Y-you perverted little... _ah_ ," Aoba said, his words turning into moans as Noiz leaned forward to swipe his tongue over his hole. Aoba was particularly sensitive to this -- Noiz's tongue teasing and wetting sensitive skin before his tongue pushed inside him, opening up and preparing him slowly for what was to come -- and perhaps that was why Noiz was so surprised when Aoba reached back over his shoulder and gently shoved him away, forcing him to land with his back against the mattress. Noiz was about to ask if Aoba was okay when the other man began to shuffle back until their bodies were aligned.

"Told you I wanted to do it for you too," Aoba muttered, and Noiz gasped softly as one of Aoba's hands curled around his cock. He'd been focusing on Aoba up until now, but there was no denying that his touch felt amazing, and when Aoba leaned down and caught the piercing through the head of his cock with his teeth Noiz groaned out loud. The sharp flash of pleasure and pain spurred him back to action and he leaned forward, spreading Aoba's ass cheeks with his hands and circling the sensitive skin around his hole with the tip of his tongue. 

It took less time to prepare Aoba than Noiz usually dedicated to the task. Aoba was desperate and the muscles in his legs and back were visibly tense, but when Noiz pressed his tongue inside of him and began gently spreading him open, it became obvious that he was very much relaxed and ready. Not to mention that he was particularly enthusiastic on the giving end as well; he was moving slowly, but each slow, wet suck Aoba gave to his cock reminded Noiz that he'd been waiting far too long to feel the pleasure Aoba gave him. Aoba was far too perfect at using his mouth for his own good, and it seemed he knew exactly the right amount of pressure to apply when using his teeth too. After a few more careful movements of his tongue, Noiz pulled away and wet the tip of one finger with his own spit before gently pressing it against Aoba's entrance. Aoba jumped at the sudden intrusion, but there was no resistance and no sign of anything but pleasure as Noiz gently moved his fingertip in and out of Aoba's body. His hips began rocking back to try and force Noiz to move deeper, but Noiz pulled away before he could manage more than a few uneven movements.

Noiz hummed and smiled. "Do you want it that badly?"

All Noiz got in the way of reply was an angry grunt, and he laughed as he sat up and pressed a kiss to the small of Aoba's back. The half-empty bottle of lubrication on the bedside table was just within reach of his fingertips, and he grabbed it and rolled it up the bed to Aoba.

Aoba had apparently been distracted by the other task at hand, because he pulled off Noiz's cock with a surprised gasp when the cold plastic touched his skin.

"What's this for?" Aoba whispered, voice slightly hoarse. He definitely knew what it was for, Noiz mused, but he seemed confused as to why it was being given to him.

Noiz reached between Aoba's legs, grasping his cock. Silently, Noiz marveled at how wet Aoba was; precum was even beginning to drip onto their bed. 

"Do it yourself."

"What?!" Aoba asked, and Noiz laughed when it came out more as a desperate whine that anything else.

"Is it starting to hurt? I want to watch you," Noiz replied, voice husky. "I want to see you open yourself up nice and slow for me."

For a second Noiz was afraid he'd gone too far, but after a few seconds of red-faced embarrassment and anger Aoba grabbed the bottle of lube and poured a good amount onto his own hand. He took his other hand off Noiz's cock for just a moment to spread the thick fluid down his fingers and then reached back to gently rub his middle and index finger over his own hole to spread the lubrication over the sensitive skin. That was fun to watch, and Aoba seemed to have taken his words to heart because he was definitely taking his time, even though patience was starting to take a visible toll on his body. Noiz smirked and shivered as he watched precum drip from the swollen head of Aoba's cock and onto his own chest, warm and sticky on his skin. The strand of fluid bridged the gap between their skin before breaking as Aoba's hips jerked; Noiz was so busy watching that that he almost missed the sight of Aoba slowly pressing two of his fingers inside himself. His other hand, just slightly damp from the excess lube, curled back around the base of Noiz's cock. The combination of the wet warmth and the pressure made him moan.

"Aoba..."

Noiz leaned forward and pressed his lips to the curve of Aoba's ass, lips and teeth sealing over the soft flesh and sucking until it left a dark red-purple mark on Aoba's pale skin. Noiz lay back to admire his handiwork and laughed; Aoba was looking back at him, apparently lost for words. Noiz simply pressed his lips against the vivid red spot again, gentler this time.

"You're gorgeous, Aoba."

"Little... _ugh_ ," Aoba responded, and pushed down on Noiz roughly as he tried to focus on the task at hand.

It seemed Aoba had lost any intention of playing nice. After a few experimental movements of his fingers he added a third, taking it slower as he twisted them inside himself as best he could from the odd angle. He moaned softly as his mouth found its way back onto Noiz's erection, lips and mouth sliding down the shaft as much as he could manage before pulling back, teeth grazing sharply over Noiz's piercings. At the moment, he didn't seem to be moving the hand he had around the base of Noiz's cock so much as he was just using it to apply pressure with sharp little grasps of his fingers. Even if it was a little awkward, it definitely worked; the visual of Aoba fucking himself with his own fingers and the feeling of Aoba's mouth on his cock was getting to be a little too much for Noiz.

"Aoba, stop."

Aoba pulled away immediately and fell gracelessly to the side with a relieved sigh, his cock resting heavy and wet against his belly. Noiz caught his breath and smiled, leaning forward to guide Aoba over to him. Aoba moved, albeit reluctantly due to tiredness, but soon he was sitting in Noiz's lap and craning his neck forward to return every kiss Noiz pressed to his lips. It was just a little bit awkward, trying to work around Aoba's growing belly without causing either of them any discomfort, and there were a few moments of soft laughter and awkward movement before Aoba finally kneeled over Noiz's lap, one arm around Noiz's neck to support himself.

"Hey," Noiz whispered breathlessly as they broke apart, "are you ready?"

Aoba nodded, licking his lips, and he reached between both of their bodies to rub still slick fingers from the tip of Noiz's erection down to the root. Once that was done, he lifted himself and aligned their hips, holding onto the base of Noiz's cock to keep it still as he teased his own entrance with the piercing at the tip. Finally, he stopped moving and pressed his hips down, taking the first few inches of Noiz's cock inside of him with a soft moan of pleasure. 

Noiz swallowed to wet his dry throat and supported Aoba's hips with his hands, thumbs rubbing slow circles on his skin as he adjusted to the pressure. He was just about to ask Aoba if he was okay, but his question was drowned out by his own sharp gasp as Aoba bore down, dropping his weight down and taking the rest of Noiz's cock with a breathless cry. Pleasant, prickly heat spread through Noiz's body at the feeling of Aoba taking him deep; he could already feel Aoba's body clenching around him, balancing on the edge of climax as he tried to regain control. Noiz hummed softly and leaned forward, pressing soft kisses along Aoba's shoulder and neck as his hands gently slid up and down his spine. His lips reached the shell of Aoba's ear and he gently tugged at the lobe with his teeth, causing Aoba to shiver.

"Yeah," Aoba murmured, breathing deep but even in Noiz's ear as he calmed himself. After a few more seconds he began to roll his hips slowly, biting his bottom lip as pleasure started to build. "Noiz..."

Noiz leaned back and moved his hands back to the curves of Aoba's hips as the other man began moving. Aoba seemed to be having a little more trouble moving than he usually would, but the uneven rolls of his hips and the roughness of his movements felt amazing to Noiz. Seeing Aoba made it even better; Noiz watched as Aoba closed his eyes, his blush running from his cheekbones down to the base of his throat. His skin was shining with sweat, his cock was hard and leaking and just visible from underneath his belly, and if Noiz looked at exactly the right moment he got to watch the length of his own cock slide in and out of Aoba's body as the other man bounced in his lap. 

The arm Aoba had around Noiz's shoulders suddenly dropped away, and Noiz hummed in approval when Aoba used it to support himself as he began to move harder, grinding down on Noiz's dick over and over. Precum was leaking from the tip of Aoba's cock, smearing all over his own belly and dripping onto Noiz's navel piercing as he tried to stimulate himself with it. Aoba opened his eyes briefly, made a frustrated sound in the back of his throat and began rocking his hips harder than ever, making sure to rub the sensitive spot under the head of his cock against the cool metal of Noiz's navel piercing. 

"Urgh," Aoba groaned, gritting his teeth as he moved. Noiz smiled and shivered, at the sight, and he laughed breathlessly as Aoba tried to part his legs wider to increase the sensation more.

"Isn't it enough for you?"

"Noiz, I need..." Aoba gasped, rolling his hips forward in a desperate attempt for more contact.

"You want me to touch you?" Noiz questioned softly, and he laughed as Aoba's response came in the form of several rapid nods. "You should do it yourself."

"... _Eh_?!" 

Noiz laughed softly and leaned forward to give Aoba a soft peck on the lips as his movements slowed. "I want to watch you touch yourself."

"You perverted... _ah_!" Aoba started, but his words were cut off by a sharp cry as Noiz thrust up into him, moving until there was no space between them and he was deep inside Aoba's body. For a second Noiz thought he may have gone far enough to accidentally finish Aoba off, but Aoba held on with his teeth digging into his bottom lip, his nails clawing at Noiz's shoulder and back and his cock dripping precum all over Noiz's stomach. Noiz laughed breathlessly, slowly rolling his hips to tease Aoba as the other man tried to hold on.

"You're n-not helping!" Aoba gasped, a droplet of precum running down the length of his neglected cock.

"I know I'm not," Noiz said with a smug smirk, and the weak glare Aoba shot at him in response made him laugh. "I want to watch you, Aoba."

Aoba's face was burning red, and he avoided looking at Noiz as the other man continued to move slowly inside him. He seemed to be struggling internally, caught between embarrassment and desire. Noiz was about to reach up and touch Aoba himself when he saw the other man's hand moving, creeping up slowly until he had his own cock in a loose grip.

Noiz watched as Aoba stroked himself, spreading the slick precum at the head of his cock right down the length with his hand. Aoba usually preferred a lighter touch to the rougher edge that Noiz liked, but this time he seemed to be more desperate to cum than usual, and his movements matched that desperation. He thrust desperately into his own hand and tried to rock down onto Noiz's cock at the same time, desperate for stimulation. 

"Noiz..." Aoba whimpered, moaning loudly as Noiz's cock pressed deep inside him. Just when Noiz was about to answer, he leaned forward and held Noiz close with his free arm, his other moving feverishly between their bodies as he began to clench and tighten around Noiz's cock. Noiz grit his teeth and began moving faster, thrusting up to meet Aoba as he pressed down and kissing him open-mouthed as he felt the sudden, sharp feeling of Aoba's body tightening around him.

"Noiz, I can't, I..." 

Noiz laughed softly and thrust into Aoba hard, feeling warmth spill between their bodies and hearing Aoba's weak cry as the other man reached climax. He picked up his pace, thrusting roughly while Aoba was already over-stimulated, until he was practically sobbing as he clung to Noiz. A few more thrusts was all it took for Noiz to finish, and he pressed as deep inside Aoba as he could as he came.

They stayed together for a while, kissing and holding each other as they came down from the high. Aoba pulled back a little to glance at Noiz and poked out his tongue.

"So much for letting me relax, brat."

"You feel relaxed now, right?" Noiz responded, raising one eyebrow. "Besides, didn't it feel good?"

"Don't ask questions you know the answer to."

Aoba let out a heated sigh and broke away, the warmth between them getting a little overwhelming. Noiz gave him one final kiss and helped him up, gently easing out of him and helping him lie to the side to catch his breath. Noiz looked down at him, eyes drifting to the cum dripping down his belly.

"Noiz, what are you-- oi, that's gross!" Aoba said as Noiz reached out, gently wiping his release up with his bare hand. He was just about to move away when he felt something press against his open palm.

A tiny, brief nudge from beneath Aoba's skin.

"Oh."

"What's wrong?" Aoba asked, before breaking into a smile. "Did you feel them move?"

"... I think so," Noiz replied, a mixture or emotion suddenly welling up inside him.

"I told you they'd started moving."

"I can't feel them anymore," Noiz said, frowning. Aoba grabbed his wrist with one hand, grabbed a handful of tissues from the bedside table with the other and began to clean them up, starting with Noiz's hand. Noiz glared at him lightly, and he shrugged as he continued to wipe away the mess.

"The doctor said we might start to feel them sometimes. It will start happening more from now on," Aoba said. His content smile suddenly changed to a look of grave concern, and he frowned at Noiz. "Ah, if they ever ask what was happening the first time you felt them kick, just... lie or something."

Noiz nodded and let his hand drop away from Aoba's belly. Aoba stood up on shaky legs, stretched and sighed. "Now I need another bath."

"You could have one in the morning," Noiz said, his face breaking into a smirk as he licked his lips. "Or I could clean you up."

"No thank you," Aoba groaned, walking into the ensuite bathroom connected to their bedroom instead of the main one down the hall. Noiz watched Aoba's retreating back and his smirk broadened, his eyes catching sight of his cum beginning to run down between Aoba's thighs. Aoba looked back over his shoulder, narrowed his eyes at Noiz and shut the bathroom door firmly behind him, face red.

The sound of the shower running made Noiz feel oddly sleepy, and he found himself struggling to stay awake. He was just about to doze off when he heard the water abruptly cut off with a loud shudder of the pipes in the walls. The ensuite door slid open and Aoba poked his head around the door frame, teeth chattering.

"N-Noiz, towel?"

Noiz nodded and got up off the bed, turning up the heat but not bothering to put on any clothes on his way out of the room. He grabbed a fresh towel from the other bathroom and returned to the bedroom, tossing the towel to Aoba and receiving a grateful smile in return.

"Thanks."

Once Aoba had dried himself off, he walked back to the bed and laid down next to Noiz, poking him gently under the ribs with the tip of his index finger. "Hey, Noiz. Did you install that program on the USB onto Ren today?"

"Yeah. I thought you would have checked that out when you were with him earlier."

"Mmm, I had a certain brat trying to distract me," Aoba said with a dramatic sigh, and he got up off the bed and began to dress. "I'll check it out now. This is the time they usually start to move around a lot, so... maybe you'll feel them again, if you're lucky."

Noiz pouted and Aoba smiled, pulling an oversized shirt over his head and leaning in to kiss Noiz with an expression that suggested that it couldn't be helped, pulling the sheets up to Noiz's hips as he moved. The shirt hung loose around the collar and shoulders, but it was big enough to accommodate his growing baby bump. 

Ren was soundly asleep on his cushion at the foot of the bed. Aoba picked him up and gently butted his forehead against the Allmate's, and he sprung to life immediately.

"Aoba."

"Hey Ren," Aoba replied, placing Ren down on the bed and grinning as he tried to crawl over the large dips and lumps in the quilt on the bed. "Is the new program working okay?"

"There's no problem," Ren replied. "Would you like me to launch the software?"

Aoba nodded and Ren wagged his tail. "Understood."

Ren sat firmly down on his back legs and paused for a moment, staring off into the distance. Aoba frowned, but broke into a relieved grin as Ren seemed to snap out of his trance and stood up properly.

"I have analyzed the data. I can report the results or mail them to your Coil."

"You can tell us," Noiz said, shrugging.

"Understood. Aoba is in good physical health. His emotions are stable. At this point it is estimated that he has been pregnant for approximately eighteen and a half weeks, based upon the measurements of the two babies he is currently carrying."

"What else can you tell us about them?" Noiz asked, suddenly sitting up.

"Approximate length and weight measurements. Physical and emotional wellbeing, including signs of genetic disorders. Biological sex."

"Tell us everything," Noiz said, looking at Aoba for support. Aoba hesitated for a moment, emotion clear on his face before he nodded, subconsciously reaching out for Noiz's hand. Noiz met him halfway, grasping his hand tightly.

"Please wait," Ren said, going back into the strange trance for a little longer before once again returning to normal. "Analysis complete. Baby A is a healthy length and weight of five and a half inches and five and one quarter ounces. Baby B is slightly smaller, but still within the range of healthy length and weight at five inches and five ounces. Physically and emotionally, both are stable. Their heart rates are regular and they don't appear to be in any sort of distress. Neither show signs of genetic disorders that the program is designed to identify."

Aoba and Noiz's eyes met and Aoba broke out into a smile knowing that Noiz's relieved expression mirrored his own. "Should we find out? I mean... the time feels right to me."

Noiz nodded once, and Aoba reached for his hand as he turned back to Ren.

"What sexes are they?"

"Biologically, they both appear to be male.

"... wow," Noiz murmured, and Aoba turned to him with a broad grin.

"I thought you said we were going to have a girl and a boy?"

Noiz turned to look at him with a gentle smile. "It's amazing that they're going to be here anyway. For them to be healthy... that's what I wanted the most."

"... I know."

"Besides, they'll definitely inherit the cuteness from you anyway," Noiz smirked, causing Aoba to frown.

"I don't want to hear that from you," Aoba muttered. Noiz was about to lean over and kiss him when Ren cleared his throat.

"Aoba, I have the ability to assign names to both babies for clarity's sake. Would you like to do that?"

"... oh," Aoba said, looking at Noiz.

 _That_ was something they hadn't thought of yet.


	7. Bonds

The rustle of cellophane shot through the room as Aoba gingerly stepped over the bag blocking the doorway.

"Oi, Noiz."

Noiz looked over his shoulder and up at Aoba from his place on the floor.

"What is it?"

"Don't you think we already have enough?" Aoba asked, heaving the box he'd collected from the postman through the door and placing it down next to Noiz. "Urgh, this one is heavy..."

"Sorry," Noiz said, eyeing the box as Aoba sat heavily down at his other side. "I wasn't expecting it to be that one. It only got sent a few days ago."

"It's fine," Aoba replied, letting out a soft sigh as he eased himself into a more comfortable position. He leaned back towards the door and grabbed the bag in the doorway to move it out of the way. "We have to get set up in here before we buy them anything else. Who knows how much room we'll have left afterwards?"

Noiz looked around the room, and nodded. After he'd started his Christmas holidays, they'd actually made good progress on cleaning up the study. Gone were the filing cabinets, the desk and all the things Noiz had used for work, moved to their new place in the lounge; all that had been left of the original furniture was the rug covering the hardwood floor and the shelves on the walls. Now the room was packed with boxes and bags containing supplies for the babies. 

Literally packed, Noiz thought as he looked at the stacks of newborn-size nappies in the corner, the bags of tiny clothes and toys, the boxes containing the furniture they hadn't yet assembled; he and Aoba were taking up what little floor space that remained. A soft rustle of plastic and a soft sigh from Aoba caused Noiz to turn around in question, and his eyes flicked between Aoba's bemused face and the tiny matching set of knitted caps and socks in his hands.

"Why do we even need this much stuff for cold weather... they're due in the middle of spring..."

"It's still cold in spring," Noiz remarked as he turned back to the half-opened box in front of him, but Aoba caught his attention again as he started to laugh.

"Sorry," Aoba said, sounding a little bit breathless as he put the clothes back in the bag. "I was just thinking that there probably isn't enough room in here to set up the bassinets unless we move other stuff out first."

"Hmm..." Noiz looked at the cluttered mess around them. "I guess that's a good enough reason."

"We're taking up the last spare spot on the floor," Aoba said, and he gave an inelegant grunt as he tried to get up. "Ah, Noiz..."

"Don't worry," Noiz said, and he got to his feet, offered Aoba his hand and pulled him up into his embrace. "Got you."

"Thanks," Aoba said, and they both smiled when Noiz gave Aoba a quick squeeze as they pulled apart.

"You're getting heavier."

"First you say I'm scrawny and then you say I'm getting heavy," Aoba said sarcastically as he crouched down to pick up a few bags on his way out of the room.

Noiz smiled to himself. "I didn't say it was bad. It means our sons are getting bigger."

"And stronger," Aoba half-called back. "They're kicking me right now. Ah, Noiz?"

"What's wrong?" Noiz asked as he walked out of the nursery with the newly-arrived box in his arms. Aoba poked the corner of it as he walked past him.

"What's in his new parcel?"

"Ah," Noiz said, adjusting his grip on the box, "just some stuff I ordered for the nursery."

"We're not going to have space for them in the room if you keep buying them all this stuff. We definitely don't need many small clothes because they'll grow quickly, and it will be a few months before they'll care about playing with toys..."

"It's nothing like that," Noiz said, picking at the layers of packing tape on the box with the corner of one of his fingernails. "Though there should be some more boxes arriving in the next few days."

"Noiz..." Aoba sighed, and Noiz raised a brow at him.

"Money isn't an issue, so don't worry about it. It will still be fine with four people."

"Yeah, you got one thing right," Aoba said with a concerned frown. "Money isn't the issue, it's running out of space."

"I told you it's fine, Aoba. Don't worry," Noiz said, and he took the loose end of the tape and ripped the box open with one swift movement. He lifted the cardboard flaps open and grinned a little at the items contained within. "This won't take up space at all."

"What..." Aoba started, but he paused and covered his mouth with one hand, shoulders shaking and tears beading at the corners of his eyes.

"... I didn't think you'd react that strongly," Noiz smirked, but he narrowed his eyes a little when he realized the sound that Aoba was trying to stifle wasn't crying, but laughter. "What's so funny?"

"Sorry," Aoba said, catching his breath and rubbing at the stitch that had appeared at the side of his body. "But... it's so _cute_. The bunnies, I mean. Are you sure you don't want to use the leftover wallpaper for yourself?"

"Not particularly," Noiz frowned, but Aoba kept laughing. "Shut up."

"Don't worry, _Noiz-kun_ ," Aoba smiled, running his fingers around the outlines of the green and blue bunnies on the wallpaper edging, "I really like it. Almost as much as you like rabbits."

Noiz scowled as Aoba reached up and ruffled his hair. "It's a good thing we didn't set anything up in there yet, because we'll have to get this done first. The rest of the stuff we'll need is in the box, right?"

Aoba took the box from his reluctant boyfriend and peered inside, face cracking into a broad grin.

"Matching pictures for the room too? Cute."

Noiz took the box back from Aoba and headed into the nursery, sighing as the other man's laughter carried after him.

* * *

Aoba settled back into the couch with a relieved sigh, propping his aching feet up against the leather foot rest that had formerly been matched with the small lounge chair that had been in the study. He placed Ren, who was in sleep mode, and the few Usagimodoki he'd managed to find around the house in his lap. Noiz walked into the room, a steaming mug of herbal tea in one hand and a small plate of reheated pizza in the other. 

"Here"

"Thanks," Aoba said with a grateful smile, and he raised the mug to his lips as he took it from Noiz. "Ah, it's hot."

"Don't burn yourself," Noiz said, and he bit into one of the slices of pizza he'd reheated as he sat down on the opposite couch. The effect was instantaneous; he grimaced and dropped the pizza back onto the place and stuck his burned tongue out of his mouth with a soft grunt of discomfort. Aoba sat up and placed his mug of tea on the nearby coffee table, trying to hide the smile on his lips.

"Okay?"

"Yeah," Noiz replied, sighing softly as he placed his plate on the coffee table next to Aoba's mug. Aoba stretched his arms over his head, groaning a little before lying down on the couch, his head supported by the armrest. This was the time of night that the twins usually started to move around the most, so he wanted to be comfortable before they started kicking. Noiz smiled at Aoba once he was settled.

"So where were we?"

Aoba sighed softly and rubbed a spot on his belly where he was starting to feel faint stirrings of movement. "We're going to try again tonight?"

"Well, we're not done yet," Noiz said with a smirk. "You start.

"Alright, alright..." Aoba groaned, sitting up with a grunt to grab his tea mug. "Max?"

Noiz shook his head. "Finn."

Aoba wrinkled his nose and took a long drink; the tea ran hot and satisfying all the way down his throat, and he licked his lips to try and savour the bitter flavour. Ren began to stir as Aoba reached down to scratch his ears with his spare hand.

"What about Jonas?"

"It doesn't have to be a German name," Noiz said, raising his arm to check the time on his Coil as he spoke. "It could be Japanese."

"I know," Aoba said, sitting up further as Ren slid closer to his knees. "But I thought because the name we picked out for the first baby is German..."

Noiz nodded wordlessly but quickly; this was a conversation they'd had before, and no matter what they said it ended up going in circles.

"We just have to find something that will sound good with Luca," Aoba said, and he raised his mug to his lips to take a large sip of his tea. "One of them is definitely going to be Luca."

Noiz hummed in affirmation and took the chance to take a bite from his pizza while Aoba returned to his tea. The name Luca had been so easy to decide on that it seemed ridiculous for their second twin's name to be so difficult to come up with. The night after Aoba's twenty week ultrasound appointment, they'd been sitting and half-watching TV when they'd heard the name; it was a fairly common name in Germany, and Noiz hadn't given it much thought, but Aoba had sat up, hummed and simply said that he liked the sound of it, and that was that. Noiz didn't really have any names in mind that he specifically desired or opposed for their sons and Aoba was yet to find another name that he really wanted to use, so most of their recent evenings had been spent like this.

At least they still had time to think about it and be sure. It was kind of nerve-wracking, trying to give them the names they'd probably have for the rest of their lives.

"Hey, Noiz."

"What's wrong?"

"Where did your name come from?"

"No idea," Noiz said with a shrug. He'd never had the chance to ask his parents about it, and he wasn't about to start. He'd always figured they'd just made it up.

"I thought it was a German name, but I haven't heard of anyone else called Noiz..." Aoba murmured. "I've heard your brother's name a few times, though..."

Noiz was about to reply when he was cut off by the sound of Aoba's Coil ringtone. Aoba sat bolt upright, knocking Ren and Usagimodoki away from him in surprise as he stared at the same displayed on his Coil.

"It's Grandma!"

Noiz quirked his brow at Aoba and gave him a confused look. "So? It makes sense that she'd phone around this time of year. You can tell her that the twenty week scan confirmed she's going to have two grandsons."

Aoba bit his lip and avoided Noiz's gaze. Noiz frowned, letting the silence stretch between them, broken only by the shrill tone of his Coil ringing. The ringtone cut off abruptly as the call went through to voice mail, but Noiz continued to stare.

"You haven't told her."

"No," Aoba murmured, and he looked up and caught Noiz's eye, "but Noiz, I..."

"Are you that ashamed of what's happened?" Noiz questioned on impulse, eyes narrowed. 

"No, that's..." Aoba said, sounding surprised and slightly upset.

"You haven't been back to Midorijima for months. That's why, isn't it?"

"That's not it!" Aoba snapped, so much so that the force of his words actually made Noiz flinch, and the look of hurt on Aoba's face immediately made him regret his hasty choice of words. Aoba's Coil rang again, once again becoming the only sound filling the silence between the two men. Aoba's gaze remained on Noiz for a few more seconds, angry and hurt, before he cursed softly under his breath and reached to accept the call.

"Hello?"

"Aoba!"

"Koujaku?" Aoba questioned, eyes widening slightly in surprise.

"It's good to talk to you again! It's been so long since you've come back to visit," Koujaku replied happily. "I'm having dinner with Tae-san tonight, and..."

"Master! Are you well? It's so good to hear your voice again!"

"Hello, Clear," Aoba said, managing a sheepish smile as Clear began to speak rapidly about what had happened to him since they had last seen each other. Noiz sat back in his chair, sighing through clenched teeth as Koujaku started trying to talk over Clear and cut him off, until two muffled smacks sounded through the room, closely followed by two groans.

"I told the two of you not to call until I was back from the kitchen!"

"Sorry, Tae-san," Koujaku said hurriedly, "Clear got carried away, and..."

"Koujaku-san, don't lie! You're the one who decided to call early. How cruel..."

"That's enough Tae said evenly, and there was a few moments of shamed silence before she spoke again. "Aoba, are you there?"

"I'm here, Grandma," Aoba said, eyes shining with emotion at the sound of her voice. 

"There's no need to get worked up!" Tae said, but Noiz noticed that she too sounded a little more emotional than he'd become accustomed to.

"I'm sorry... it just feels like a long time since I've spoken to all of you. And it's been even longer since I've returned to Midorijima..."

"Well, it can't really be helped if it's because of work," Tae said. "Don't get complacent. We'll still be waiting for you when you return."

"... I know," Aoba murmured. His hand was shaking just a little, enough for Noiz to see, and he had to resist the urge to rush over and steady him.

"Oi, Aoba," Koujaku said, taking advantage of the silence, "can you turn on video chat?"

"It would be good to see Master's face," Clear commented serenely, as if he was thinking out loud.

"A-ah, actually, my Coil is still broken," Aoba said, unconsciously reaching down to wipe the palm of his free hand on his pants. He could feel himself beginning to sweat.

"Still?" Tae said. "It was broken the last time we spoke. What about the webcam?"

"Broken," Aoba answered quickly, wringing a wrinkle in the fabric of his pants between his fingers. "They're both broken."

Tae let out a low hum, but Clear and Koujaku began to speak at the same time.

"It's a shame they both broke at the same time..."

"Just tell the brat to buy you a replacement! Does he even know that they're broken?"

"I do now," Noiz said, and Aoba jumped at the sound of his voice.

"Noiz..."

"Oi, shitty brat!" Koujaku snapped. "You'd better be looking after Aoba!"

Aoba groaned, face. "I'm okay," he said quickly, "I just haven't had time to get repairs done."

"Maybe you'll get a new Coil tomorrow morning," Noiz commented, and Aoba glared at him from across the room.

"Anyway... I promise I'll visit soon," Aoba said, gaze focused on his coil. "I'll come home when... when I can."

"Don't feel guilty for what you can't help," Tae said. "Come back when you're not busy."

Aoba laughed softly and pulled his knees up as close to his body as he comfortably manage, wrapping his free arm around his legs as he curled up.

"It might be a while before I'm free again."

"Doesn't matter," Tae said dismissively, "as I said before, take as long as you need."

"Okay," Aoba murmured, voice barely above a whisper, and Noiz suddenly felt as if he was invading on a moment that was meant to be infinitely more private.

"And I told you, don't get so emotional," Tae said, though her voice was soft. "Are you sure you're alright, Aoba?"

"I'm fine," Aoba replied. "It's getting late, but I'll ring you tomorrow, okay? I'll send you a message an hour before I call."

"Master, please phone me too!" Clear said excitedly. 

"I'll be waiting too, Aoba," Koujaku said.

"Jeez, you guys are really desperate to talk to me, huh..." Aoba said with a soft laugh, and Koujaku scoffed.

"We barely talked today!"

"Okay, okay," Aoba replied, face breaking into a smile. "Tomorrow, then."

"I can't wait to talk to you again, Master!"

"I'll talk to you soon, Aoba."

"Tomorrow," Tae agreed, and Noiz watched as Aoba said goodbye to all of them and ended the call. They were silent for a few seconds, watching each other from across the room.

Noiz sighed softly and ran his hand through the front of his hair. "Aoba..."

"I know I'll have to tell them eventually," Aoba said, staring at the mug of half-cold tea on the table, "I know that."

Noiz sat in silence as Aoba eased himself back to a more natural position.

"It's just... I'm just not sure how," Aoba muttered, staring down at his own swollen stomach. "I know that they'd tell me they don't care, that they're happy for me. I know Grandma would love to have great-grandchildren too, but I don't think she thought she'd have them like this. It would just make her worry about me if I told her."

"And that's why you don't want to tell them?" Noiz asked.

"I know that they'll find out when they arrive, but... I'm worried they'd never look at me the same way, or think I'm weird for going through with it... I mean, it's weird that this could happen at all. It's just strange to think they might see me like this. But at the same time, it's hard because if they don't see me, I can't see them either... and I miss them a lot."

Aoba sighed deeply and ran one hand through his hair in frustration, letting it fall gracelessly into his lap. "But at the same time... I wish I was brave enough to tell them, because I'm really happy that we're going to have a family."

Aoba trailed off and stared at his own hands in his lap to avoid Noiz's gaze. He stayed like that for a few moments, getting his emotions under control before he looked up again; when he did, he jumped in surprise.

Noiz had crossed the room to stand by the side of the couch he was sitting on. Aoba wondered briefly if Noiz had moved quietly on purpose, if he'd been too distracted to notice or a combination or both, but he didn't have time to think too deeply because Noiz offered him a hand which he thoughtlessly accepted and he found himself pulled snugly into the other man's embrace.

"I'm sorry."

"Eh?" Aoba asked blankly. "No, it's fine, I overreacted and..."

Noiz shook his head to silence Aoba, his hair tickling the side of the blue-haired man's neck.

"I know that this is hard for you."

"N-no, I mean, it could be a lot harder," Aoba said awkwardly, feeling more ridiculous by the minute. "And I know that you want to tell everybody about the babies. I know you love them already and you want a family, so..."

Noiz made a slight huffing sound and pulled away a little, though his hands remained securely linked at the small of Aoba's back. Aoba gave him a questioning look, and he frowned.

"What's wrong?"

"I only had one person to tell," Noiz said with a sigh. "My brother."

"Your brother knows?"

"Yeah," Noiz replied. "I told him so I could take the afternoon off on Fridays, and now he's told everyone at work he's going to be an uncle. Before the Christmas break people were leaving gifts in my office."

Aoba swallowed against the lump in his throat, cheeks burning. "Everybody...?"

Noiz nodded, looking displeased at the thought. "Everybody."

As Aoba was trying to comprehend what Noiz had just said, he felt the other man let him go and pull away. Noiz picked the mug half-full of cold tea and stacked it on top of his dirty plate.

"It's getting late. We have to go to see my brother tomorrow, so let's go to bed."

"Mmm, sounds like a plan," Aoba said, stifling a yawn. When Aoba opened his eyes, he found Noiz leaning so close that his breath tickled his skin, and he barely had time to close his eyes again before Noiz's lips pressed firmly against his own.

"You can go back home soon," Noiz murmured as he pulled away. "I'll buy you a ticket as soon as you want one, I promise."

"It's fine," Aoba said, smiling as he bent down to grab the plate and mug to hand to Noiz and rubbing his belly as he straightened up again. "These guys are going to need me for a while, and I want to spend time with them too. Midorijima isn't the only home I have anymore."

Noiz stared at him, and Aoba felt his face heat up under his gaze, even as he turned away and headed for the bedroom. He paused at the doorway, eyes locked on the clock sitting on their bedside table.

It was a few minutes past midnight.

"Noiz?"

"Hmm?"

"Merry Christmas."

Aoba heard the soft, distinctive sound of Noiz's laugh from across their apartment.

"Merry Christmas, Aoba."

* * *

"Ah... can I ask a question?"

"You just did."

"Shut up," Aoba sniffed, pulling his seat belt out a little more to give himself room to breathe. One of the babies chose that moment to try his kicking strength, and Aoba sighed deeply at the tiny flares of discomfort running through his body. "Does your brother still live with your parents?"

Noiz shook his head. "He moved out about six months ago. He said they were getting annoyed with all the hair getting left around." 

At that moment, Noiz looked away from the road and met Aoba's confused look with a blank one of his own.

"Hey. Are you allergic to any animals?"

"I don't think so," Aoba replied, squirming uncomfortably in his seat. "So... how far away is your brother's new place?"

"About halfway between our apartment and my parents' house," Noiz said. "I've never been there before, he just gave me the address."

"So are we nearly there?" 

"About ten minutes, I guess. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, aside from our sons deciding to aim every kick they make at some unfortunate place," Aoba groaned, rubbing his stomach in a vain attempt to calm the babies down. "Why are they so hyperactive today? They'd better not screw around like this when I'm trying to sleep tonight."

"It's Christmas. They must be excited," Noiz said flatly, and Aoba groaned again.

"Very funny."

Noiz smiled a little, the corners of his lips just barely quirking up before he started to guide the car across to the next exit off the road.

"Not long now."

A few minutes later, Aoba found himself staring up at an apartment building that was even taller, fancier and newer than the one Noiz had picked out for them to live in. Noiz regarded the building wordlessly for a few seconds and grabbed the small pile of wrapped gift boxes from the back seat of the car.

"Nothing special, really."

"Is that so..." Aoba replied, smile strained as he followed Noiz to the security gate located at the side of the building. He punched in a few numbers and, a few seconds and a loud, obnoxious beeping sound later, a familiar voice came through the intercom.

"Big brother? Is that you?"

"Yeah," Noiz replied. "We just arrived."

"I thought I saw your car pull up," came the cheerful reply, along with a sound that reminded Aoba of someone violently gargling water. "Sorry, that was Sugar Plum... the security gate should be open now, the elevator is on the right side of the lobby when you come in. You remember the floor and apartment number, right?"

"I remember," Noiz replied, and he let the intercom button go before his brother could respond. Aoba let out a slightly exasperated sigh as they walked through the electronic gates to the building's ground floor lobby; the elevator was already waiting for them, and Noiz pressed the button for the top floor as they walked inside.

Aoba flinched as he felt the babies squirm again. "First they barely move at all and now they won't stop..."

Noiz smiled faintly at him as he glared down at his stomach, and a few moments later they reached their destination. Aoba took in his surroundings as he stepped out of the elevator; there was only one door that he could see, set into the wall directly opposite the elevator. The rest of the corridor spread out to the left and right, but ended in nothing save for two very large, polished windows.

"Ah, your brother lives in the pe... pe..."

"Penthouse," Noiz finished for Aoba, and raised an eyebrow as Aoba folded his arms and pouted.

"Thanks for correcting my commoner's mistake."

"Like I said, it isn't that fancy."

"It's more fancy than our apartment," Aoba muttered, and Noiz turned to him with a concerned look.

"Do you want to move somewhere better?"

"No," Aoba answered flatly. Noiz shrugged in return and reached out to knock on the door with his free hand. It opened on the first knock, and the first thing Aoba saw was a rather angry-looking, large ginger cat trying to escape the apartment via the crack between the door and its frame.

"No, bad cat!"

The cat was dragged back inside, its claws raking loudly against the plush carpet that covered the floor, and a second later Noiz's brother appeared from behind the door with the cat in his arms.

"Hello! Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas," Noiz replied, staring at the cat in his brother's arms as he walked inside. Aoba smiled a little awkwardly and held out his hand; the other man took it in both his own and beamed. The cat, looking rather annoyed, squirmed out of his arms and flicked its tail angrily as its escape route was cut off.

"It's good to see you, Aoba!"

"Thanks, Oliver," Aoba said. "How are you?"

"Really well, thank you," Oliver replied, brushing the excess cat hair off the gaudy knitted Christmas sweater he was wearing. "More importantly, how are you?"

Aoba didn't miss the way the younger man's eyes fixed on his stomach. "A lot better. The nausea is gone now... sometimes I get weird symptoms, but I feel a lot better. Now they just move around a lot."

"They move?" 

"Yeah, they're moving around a lot lately, but I guess that means they're healthy, so..." Aoba started, but he stopped when he saw the amazed look on Oliver's face.

"May I feel it?"

"Huh?" Aoba replied blankly, and Oliver looked even more determined.

"May I feel my nephews move around?"

"... oh," Aoba said after a moment, quickly turning the request over in his mind. Aside from the doctors, midwives and Noiz, he hadn't really had anyone who'd wanted or needed to try feeling their sons move, but after the initial hesitant reaction, he really couldn't see the harm. "If you want to?"

"Be careful," Noiz said, and Oliver gave him an insulted look.

" I'll be really gentle."

"Just give me a second," Aoba said, taking off his heavy winter coat and hanging it on one of the hooks by the door. He pointed to the spot where he could feel one of the babies kick and nodded as Oliver, suddenly seeming more hesitant, reached out to place his palm over the spot. As if on cue, a tiny limb lashed out and nudged Oliver's hand, and he recoiled in shock.

"Wow... that was stronger than I thought it would be."

"Yeah, I guess they're running out of room or something by now," Aoba said, and he jumped when he felt another kick that renewed his earlier discomfort. "Sorry, but can I use your bathroom?"

"Of course! If you head down this hallway and into the living room, it's the door behind the glass screen on the left," Oliver said, jumping backwards out of Aoba's way. The large ginger cat made a displeased sound as he almost stepped back onto its tail, and quickly darted away to stand by Noiz's feet.

"Thanks," Aoba said, and he moved as quickly as he could manage to the place that Oliver had described. Once he was done, he washed his hands and left the bathroom. By that time, Noiz had settled in the lounge on one of the many couches near the artificial fireplace against the wall; Aoba could see the presents they'd brought with them under the tree with several more elaborately wrapped gifts. At least four cats, all different colours from the one he'd seen at the door, were curled up around the base of the heater for warmth.

From the angle Aoba was standing at, it seemed that Noiz was staring intensely at his own feet. When he moved to sit down next to him, he realized that Noiz was actually staring at the large ginger cat that Oliver had been holding when he'd welcomed them inside. Aoba wasn't the best judge of cats -- he'd always liked dogs more, even if he ignored the fact that Ren was one -- but he couldn't help but feel that this cat had a bizarrely expressive face for a normal animal, and it wasn't a particularly happy face either. Its bright green eyes held a look of pure disinterest, and its expression, were it human, would have been described as nothing short of a moody pout.

"What's wrong with the cat?"

"I don't know," Noiz replied, frowning down on the cat. It stared back, curling its tail around its body, the tip twitching lazily. "It's been staring at me since we walked in."

There was suddenly a loud crash from the kitchen, causing both Aoba and Noiz to jump in surprise. Oliver came into the room a moment later, holding the broken pieces of what used to be a gravy boat.

"Sorry! Sugar Plum knocked it off the kitchen bench. Lunch will be ready in a second though, so you can come through if you want."

Noiz and Aoba left the couch in unison and began to follow Oliver down the hall. About halfway through, Aoba felt his foot snag on something; he stumbled, but managed to regain his balance before he fell. A second later, he felt Noiz's hand wrap around his middle, steadying him further.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Aoba answered, feeling a little short of breath out of surprise, "but what did I..."

Noiz looked back over his shoulder just in time to see another cat run down the hall, tail bristled in surprise.

"Of course."

"Huh?"

"Another cat."

"Your brother really loves cats, huh?" 

"He had one as a pet when we were young... I think it was his pet, at least," Noiz muttered. "It used to sit on the windowsill outside my room and scratch to be let in, but I couldn't open the window anyway."

An uncomfortable feeling settled in the pit of Aoba's stomach from the sudden surge of emotion he felt, and he reached out to grasp Noiz's hand in his own. He squeezed gently and let his hand drop away as they reached the kitchen. It was just as modern and high-tech as the rest of the apartment, but it was currently in disarray from the meal that Oliver was trying to prepare.

"Sorry, it won't take much longer," Oliver said with a grin, and he gestured to the kitchen table in a silent invitation for them to sit. The table itself was already set, and a large gingerbread house sat in the middle. As Aoba took in his new surroundings a brown cat with a pink nose jumped up onto the end of the bench, watching Oliver as he moved around before meowing loudly, tail standing straight up in the air. Oliver sighed and put it back on the ground.

"Sugar Plum, it's not time for you to be fed yet. Go and play with the others."

"Hey Oliver, how many cats do you have?" Aoba asked, pulling out one of the chairs at the dining table to sit on. He glanced down at it and found it already occupied by yet another cat; a large, brown one whose massive form caused its sides to roll over the edges of the chair. The cat didn't seem as if it was going to move, so Aoba pushed the chair back in and took the seat on Noiz's other side.

"Huh? Oh," Oliver replied, staring down at the container of gravy he was stirring. "Eight."

"That's amazing..." Aoba replied with a sheepish grin, and Oliver smiled.

"I adopted them all from a shelter near our parents' house. They didn't like how much mess they made though, so I moved here by myself. They seem to like it here, and it's more convenient for work, so I guess I won't have to move again."

Aoba laughed softly, and Noiz looked at him. 

"Hm?"

"Sometimes the family resemblance between you two is really obvious, "Aoba said, and he smiled at Noiz's confused expression. 

"Ah... there we are," Oliver said with a satisfied nod of his head. "That should do it! Lunch is ready now."

"Do you need help with bringing it all to the table?" Aoba said, but Oliver shook his head.

"I've got it. Besides, you're my guests."

The food that Oliver placed in front of Aoba wasn't anything he was familiar with, but it must have been some sort of traditional food because Noiz didn't look particularly surprised. They'd never really celebrated Christmas in a traditional German way together, so it was a new experience. Once Oliver was seated and they'd raised their glasses to toast the holiday, Aoba cut off a portion of the meat on his plate and put it into his mouth, and was pleasantly surprised by the taste.

"This is good."

"Thank you," Oliver said, practically glowing at the praise. "I always enjoyed cooking, but before I moved out of mother and father's home I didn't really have any reason to do it. The maids made all of our meals."

"Ah, that must have been..." Aoba trailed off, not really wanting to get onto the subject of Noiz's upbringing again. Oliver must have noticed, but he ignored it and instead busied himself with his food for a few moments.

"So, how much longer will it be until the babies arrive?"

"They're due to arrive around late March or early April," Noiz answered. "The doctor said that as long as nothing goes wrong, we'll probably be able to pick a date for the birth ourselves."

"Oh, that's a relief," Oliver replied. "Not too soon."

Aoba felt that Oliver's reply was a little bit odd, but Noiz was the one who gave him a suspicious look.

"Why?"

"Nothing!" Oliver replied, and Noiz sighed. Oliver seemed unable to lie to his older brother, and put his biggest, most professional and convincing smile on his face. "Actually... you know the meeting that the vice president was supposed to attend with the new partners early next year? He's had to drop out due to a family issue, and I was wondering..."

"No," Noiz said shortly, and he bit the potato salad on his fork with far more force than was needed, as if to emphasize his refusal. 

"It's only two nights!" Oliver said, but Noiz shook his head.

"No. Who would look after Aoba?"

"Oi, I'm not made of glass," Aoba said, the barest hint of sarcasm in his voice. Noiz raised a brow at him.

"So you'd rather have me go away?"

"No, it's not that... ah, damn it!" Aoba groaned, blushing as Noiz began to smirk. Oliver seemed oblivious to the whole thing.

"Please? The hotel is already booked, and the flights. Not attending would leave us at a disadvantage."

"Then ask someone else."

"You know I wouldn't ask unless I thought no one else could do it," Oliver said stubbornly, bottom lip sticking out a little. When he saw that, Aoba honestly had trouble believing he was the boss of the family business. Then again, he had seen how seriously he took his work, and that came through just as strongly as his youth.

"Please, big brother."

Noiz turned to Aoba, clearly asking for his opinion. Aoba shrugged lightly and picked at his lunch with his fork.

"I mean... it's always kind of lonely when you go away, but it can't really be helped. Better now than when the babies arrive."

"I'll make sure you don't get lonely, Aoba!" Oliver said, clenching his fists in determination. "I'll drop over after work to make sure you're okay! Or you can stay here with me!"

"I don't really want to intrude..." Aoba said, and Oliver shook his head.

"Don't worry, there's plenty of room here. And it would be nice to get to know you better."

Aoba gave Noiz a hopeless look. Noiz gave him an equally hopeless shrug in return and turned back to his brother.

"Fine."

Aoba nodded, still feeling a little hesitant. "We'll see how things go."

"Great!" Oliver beamed. "Don't worry, I'll take care of everything for the trip. And Aoba, I know we'll have fun!"

"Yeah..." Aoba said, feeling slightly daunted by Oliver's level of eagerness.

"Okay, now that that's taken care of..." Oliver said, inelegantly shoving the remaining food on his plate into his mouth with his fork. "We can have fun. Just let me know when you're done with lunch and I'll serve dessert. After that we can open gifts!"

Aoba nodded and focused on finishing off his food, unable to hide his smile as a long, tired sigh came from his right.

Apparently, he wasn't the only one who felt exhausted by Oliver's youthful enthusiasm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter might be a bit slow, as I am participating in two Secret Santa challenges for the holidays. Sorry!


	8. Lonely

" _P! P! P! Alarm, alarm!_ "

Noiz groaned, rolled over and grasped blindly for something to throw at Usagimodoki to shut the tiny Allmate up. His hand found one of the spare decorative cushions from their bed and he threw it in the direction of the high-pitched voice, receiving an ear-splitting squeak of shock in response. At that point, a soft weight jumped up onto the bed and began to paw at Noiz's side of the blankets, dragging them down the bed and off his body.

"Noiz, wake up."

That was the end of his rest; not that the other Allmate wasn't as durable as Usagimodoki, but Aoba wouldn't be happy if he treated Ren roughly. Groaning softly, Noiz forced his tired eyes open and blinked until his vision was in focus. He caught sight of the alarm clock on the bedside table as he rolled over and got out of bed; it was so early in the morning some people would say it was late from the night before. After dragging himself to the ensuite bathroom for a quick shower to freshen up, Noiz tried his best to dress in the near-complete darkness of the bedroom. He was successful for the most part, but in the end he had trouble finding the tie he'd left out to wear with his suit on the plane. Sighing softly, he walked over to Aoba's side of the bed to switch on the lamp. As he approached the bed, the large pile of blankets under which Aoba was sleeping stirred; the only visible part of Aoba was his head from the chin up. Noiz kissed the crown of his head in apology as he switched on the lamp, and Aoba grunted in displeasure as light filled the room.

"Sorry," Noiz murmured, finally spotting his missing tie caught beneath the door of their walk-in wardrobe, "I'll be leaving soon."

"Mmmkay," Aoba replied, voice muffled by the blankets. As he rolled over to avoid the lamplight, the blankets snagged and left his shoulder uncovered. Noiz finished putting on his tie and walked back over to the bed to say goodbye to Aoba; these days it was becoming harder to get his arms around all three of the other members of his family at once, but for now he was still able to just reach far enough to link his fingers together on Aoba's belly as he wrapped his arms around him.

"I'll call you tonight."

"Mmm," Aoba hummed, squirming back into Noiz's embrace. "Message me..." A yawn. "... when you land..."

Noiz smiled and nuzzled the sensitive skin behind Aoba's ear, breathing in the scent of his hair. "I will."

He pulled the blankets back up over Aoba's shoulder as he got up off the bed, and he left the bedroom with Usagimodoki in tow. His carryon bag and suitcase were all packed and waiting in the lounge room for him, and after a final check of his belongings to ensure he hadn't left anything behind and packing his Allmate away in his carryon, he headed for the front door to put on his coat and leave for the drive to the airport. He'd figured he'd have to grab something for breakfast at the airport anyway, but as he was about to grab his keys and leave he noticed a small container sitting on the table by the door. He gave it a passing glance as he reached to open the door, but he stopped short of leaving as he noticed the note stuck to the top of the lid.

_Take these for the plane. Love you, brat._

Noiz picked up the container with a smile and opened it to check the contents: it was filled with the remaining doughnuts from the batch they'd made the day before. He tucked it securely into his carryon bag, note still attached to the lid, as he left the apartment.

* * *

Somehow, the apartment was even more boring to be stuck in without the prospect of Noiz coming home later on to keep him company. Aoba sighed and shifted his position on the lounge, trying to find a position in which no part of his body ached or felt uncomfortable; as the last months of the pregnancy began to approach, he was beginning to anticipate the end of it even more than before. Not only would they have their family and start their lives as parents with their sons, he'd finally have his body to himself again. He was definitely tired of the sore back, the swelling in his feet and ankles and the kicks to his insides, especially as the blows continued to grow in strength. He was almost hoping they'd run out of room to move.

He tried to focus on the news bulletin that had just appeared on the television, eyes glazing over as the international news made way for the various puff pieces they used to fill the rest of the time. It was a slow day all around, and Aoba was feeling so restless that he almost woke Ren from sleep mode with the force with which he was patting him. Noiz had messaged him when he'd landed, but he hadn't heard a word since and after sending him a quick message and receiving no reply, he figured that he was still stuck in meetings.

It seemed like there was little chance of Noiz interrupting him while he was eating, so he got up off the couch with a grunt of effort and began to head for the kitchen. He didn't really feel like cooking, so it was lucky that there was leftovers from their meal the night before. He was just about to open the refrigerator to check his options when his Coil began to ring. Aoba stopped and raised his hand, expecting to see Noiz's number on the display, but the number was completely unfamiliar to him. He frowned in confusion, but ultimately decided to answer the call.

"Hello?"

"Aoba?"

Aoba blinked in surprise at the familiar voice. "Oliver?"

"That's right!" Oliver replied, happiness evident in the tone of his voice. "I'm on my way over to pick you up for dinner!"

"... eh?" Aoba said blankly, staring down at the plate of cold food in his hand. "Why?"

"I promised," Oliver said firmly, "during Christmas lunch. My brother said you weren't going to be busy tonight, so I decided to come over to pick you up. Didn't he tell you?"

"It must have slipped his mind," Aoba replied.

"Oh," Oliver said. "Well, are you busy? If you already have plans we can do something tomorrow..."

Aoba looked down at the plate of leftovers in his hand and turned to put it back in the refrigerator. "No, I can come over tonight."

"Great! I'm almost there, so I'll see you soon!"

The line went dead, and Aoba shook his head in amusement and went to get changed into something neater. For Christmas, Noiz had had some clothes custom made to fit him properly during the last few months of his pregnancy. The only problem was that he'd probably had enough made for him to be able to wear something different for ever single remaining day before the birth; to say he'd gone overboard was an understatement. Just as he finished dressing he heard a knock at the door, and he ran out to open the door, picking up Ren from the couch along the way and waking him in the process.

"Aoba, are we going somewhere?"

"Yeah," Aoba replied, putting Ren down to search for his house keys. "Noiz's brother invited me over."

"It will be good to finally meet him," Ren commented, and he crawled beneath the table by the door on his belly and came back with Aoba's keys clutched between his teeth. "Here are your keys."

"Thanks," Aoba grinned, taking the keys from Ren and opening the door. He was expecting to see Oliver -- almost Noiz in miniature -- standing in front of him, but instead he found a middle-aged man with grey hair and a serious expression. 

"Ah... can I help you?"

"Aoba! Sorry, this is my driver... I came straight here from the office."

Oliver appeared behind the unfamiliar man, smiling widely and reaching to shake Aoba's hand. As usual, he took Aoba's hand warmly in both of his own for a few moments before letting it go, and then turned his attention to Ren.

"Is this your Allmate?"

"Yep! His name is Ren."

"Hello, Noiz's brother," Ren said, tail wagging gently as Oliver reached out and took one of his tiny paws between his fingers. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"My name is Oliver," Oliver smiled, patting the top of Ren's head. "It's good to meet you too."

"Can I bring him along?" Aoba asked. "Usually I'd leave him behind with Usagimodoki, but Noiz took him on the trip..."

"It's fine... but I'm not sure the cats will warm to him," Oliver said, before falling briefly into an awkward silence. "Aoba?"

"What's wrong?"

"Noiz said that you decorated the nursery for the babies over the holidays... could I see it?"

"Ah, sure. If you want to see it," Aoba said, stepping aside to let Oliver in. "Just go down this hallway and look right, cross the lounge to the hallway near the kitchen... it's the first door on the right."

Oliver darted off, leaving Aoba stunned at his speed. He put Ren down and followed after him a moment later, and saw from the lounge room that the light in the nursery was already on. Aoba walked over and put his head around the door to see Oliver beaming happily as he leaned into one of the cribs.

"You're using the things I gave you for Christmas."

"I put them in here the moment we got home on Christmas afternoon," Aoba smiled. After Christmas lunch, Oliver had invited them both back into the lounge room, and they'd spent the rest of their time together opening the gifts they'd bought for each other. In the end, Aoba and Noiz had received matching baby blankets, stuffed toys and baby jumpsuits, a few CDs of their favourite music and a large amount of sweets. Oliver had received even more sweets than Aoba and Noiz combined, several cookbooks and cooking supplies, and a fancy new fountain pen courtesy of his brother. The only thing that had stopped them from spending more time together was Oliver's promise to visit his and Noiz's parents for dinner.

Seeing the genuinely happy way Oliver reacted to his gifts being part of the nursery made Aoba feel happy, too.

"It's looking really good," Oliver said, looking around the room at the other decorations and items. "I really love the bunny theme, actually. I bet that was my brother's idea."

"Of course," Aoba said, grinning impishly. "I don't think he'd have it any other way."

"It must be exciting to know they'll be here in a few short months... ah, sorry, you must be hungry. We can talk more over dinner."

Oliver smiled and headed out of the room. Aoba shut off the light and followed him out, feeling more enthusiastic about the night already.

* * *

The trip to Oliver's apartment from their own seemed to take half the time it had taken on Christmas Day, which made Aoba suspect that Noiz had gotten lost somewhere along the way. Oliver dismissed his driver at the gate and offered to carry Ren upstairs for him; Aoba usually would have refused, but Ren seemed to like Oliver fine and Oliver seemed to adore Ren, so he didn't have a problem with it. Once they'd arrived at Oliver's apartment and Oliver had managed to get them both inside without a single feline escape, Oliver gave Ren back to Aoba and hurried into the kitchen to feed the cats. All eight of them followed him, sliding in between his legs with every step and yowling loudly, as if they hadn't been fed in months.

"They're pretty loud when they're hungry," Aoba laughed as he settled down on the couch.

"Haha, come back and tell me that after my nephews are born!" Oliver shouted from down the hall. The artificial fire was already starting to warm the room, the couch was amazingly comfortable on his sore back, and for once the babies seemed too lazy to kick. Aoba tried not to laugh as he listened to Oliver coo at his cats and address each in an affectionate tone of voice as he fed them, like one would talk to a young child. A few minutes later, all of the meowing had stopped and Oliver returned to the lounge room, his suit pants covered in several different coloured strands of cat hair.

"Phew... sorry, they get really demanding when they're hungry," Oliver said, sighing as he flopped down into one of the many armchairs near the artificial fire. "If you think they're bad now, you should see them on days when I work late."

"It's okay. Ah, out of interest... what are all their names?"

"The cats? Well, there are five boys... Noa, Poppa, Helmut, Cinnabun and Binizo. As for the girls, there's Lola and Sugar Plum, and..."

To Aoba's surprise, Oliver seemed to become a little uncomfortable at that point.

"Ah, please don't tell my brother."

"Tell him what?"

"You'll know when you hear it," Oliver said a little dryly. "Do you remember the big orange cat, the one that kept staring at my brother on Christmas Day?"

Aoba nodded, and Oliver's cheeks seemed to become a few shades pinker than was natural.

"I named her after him."

A few seconds went by where Aoba's mind went completely blank with disbelief. A moment afterwards he was trying to stifle his laughter, eyes watering with the effort as Oliver's expression became even more awkward.

"I didn't mean for it to happen that way! I started calling her that as a joke while I was thinking of a proper name and in the end she wouldn't respond to anything else!"

"Well, I can see why you made the connection," Aoba said, catching his breath. The cat's sour face, her moody disposition and her vivid green eyes and orange fur were all reminiscent of her owner's older brother. It took Aoba a while to stop being amused at the thought of the cat's name, and Oliver still looked a little bit strange by the end of it. Aoba cocked his head to the side in confusion.

"Sorry, is something wrong?"

"Ah, I was just thinking... I feel like I brought you here on false pretenses."

"Huh?"

"I don't have anything ready for dinner, and it's probably getting too late to cook... I have dessert, but..."

"Don't feel bad about that," Aoba replied, surprised by Oliver's guilt. "We can just order something... we'll have more time to talk too."

"You don't mind talking to me like this?" Oliver asked.

"Well... I wouldn't have come here if I didn't want to talk to you," Aoba said sheepishly, and Oliver grinned. 

"I'm really happy to hear it, Aoba."

"Like I said, there's no reason why I wouldn't want to talk to you!" Aoba said, suddenly feeling flustered.

"Sorry, I just didn't want to feel like I was forcing you to get to know me," Oliver replied, sounding relieved at Aoba's words. "I mean, I really want to get along with you. You're like my brother-in-law, right? And you're going to be the father of my nephews..."

Oliver seemed to stop himself then, and shook his head slightly.

"Sorry, we should order food and then talk... what do you feel like? Pizza?"

For some reason that suggestion made a strange feeling of loneliness well up in Aoba's chest, and he shook his head. Oliver noticed far quicker than Aoba thought he would, gave Aoba a kind smile and got to his feet. 

"I'll just go and grab all the menus I have and we can decide on something together. I'll be right back!"

Aoba grinned as he watched Oliver rush down the hall, almost tripping over a returning cat in the process, and thought for the umpteenth time that Noiz and Oliver were alike in more ways than he would have ever thought.

* * *

After an unfamiliar, but filling and very tasty meal from one of the local restaurants, Oliver cleaned up all of the mess they'd left behind and went into the kitchen to wash up the utensils they'd used while Aoba freshened up. When he came back, he found Ren out of sleep mode and exiled to the floor below the couch cushion where he'd left him lying. Both of their seats had been claimed by the cats.

"Aoba, please help."

Oliver walked back into the lounge and laughed when he noticed Aoba and Ren's predicament.

"Just shoo them out of the way, I don't mind. Just don't make the mistake of sitting down without checking if they're there... they won't be shy about letting you know you're sitting on them."

Oliver walked over and gently picked up both cats, one under each arm, and moved them to a spot near the artificial fireplace. After a few seconds of looking disgruntled, both cats curled up and went back to sleeping.

"Now, where were we?" Oliver said, sitting down next to Aoba as the other man reached down to pick up Ren and put him back to sleep. "We were talking about names, right?"

"Mmm... we already have one, but... we sort of want to keep it to ourselves," Aoba murmured. "Just in case we change our minds or something. We still have no idea what to name the second baby."

"I can help!" Oliver said, and for a second Aoba was afraid his enthusiasm would make him tumble out of his seat. "I've thought of heaps of names before because... well."

Oliver's sheepish glance at the cats told Aoba all he needed to know. Usually this topic frustrated Aoba, but the only one he could really talk about it with before now was Noiz. Perhaps a fresh mind and a new perspective would help.

"Okay," Aoba nodded, quirking his brow a little at the way Oliver's face lit up.

"I'll try my best! Okay, let's start with simple stuff... Ben?"

Aoba shook his head; he and Noiz must have suggested and rejected that name a hundred times. The rejection didn't seem to hinder Oliver at all.

"Leon? Felix? Max?"

"I liked Max, but Noiz didn't."

"Erik? Alex?"

"I kind of like both," Aoba murmured, and Oliver nodded.

"Don't worry, I have plenty more ideas."

In the end, Oliver ended up suggesting so many names that Aoba had to pull up the notepad on his Coil to note his favourite ones down. By the end, he had narrowed his group of favourites down to seven he really liked, and those would be the ones he'd suggest to Noiz first.

"Henry, Leo, Joshua, Daniel, Nico, Lian and Jonah," Aoba said with a form nod. "I like all of them... now I have to wait and see if Noiz likes any of them."

"Well, you can always save the others in case you have more babies," Oliver beamed, and Aoba's eyes widened.

"Did Noiz say something about that?"

"Ah, sorry!" Oliver said. "He didn't. I shouldn't have assumed that you'd want to have more after this."

"Well... it's not even something we'd thought about yet," Aoba said, feeling his cheeks heat up. "I mean, we don't even know if it will be possible. We don't even know how _this_ happened, how it works at all, really."

"No, I understand completely!" Oliver said. Aoba nodded and sighed, leaning back into the couch. Oliver gave him a confused look and tilted his head to the side.

"Is something wrong, Aoba?"

"Not really. I guess. Urgh, I don't know," Aoba groaned.

"You can tell me, if you want," Oliver said, and Aoba mulled the idea over in his head for a moment.

"Okay... I already know that this is all the kids I want. At least like this."

Oliver silently nodded for him to continue, so he did.

"I'm happy we're starting a family, _really_ happy! We talked about having kids before, just one or two, so it sort of worked out. But... I never thought it would be like this," Aoba said, putting one hand on his stomach for emphasis. "I mean, I love them already. I know I do, and so does Noiz. But I never thought they'd come into our lives this way. We thought adoption or surrogacy or something... I love my sons but not this whole part of it."

"I understand," Oliver said immediately. "I mean... I can't understand how you feel exactly. But I can see how you would feel strange about this. You didn't really have much choice in the matter, and it must be getting uncomfortable to carry them around, right?"

"My back is killing me," Aoba said with a soft laugh. "And my feet. I just want this to be over with... as time has passed it's become even harder to put up with it. I feel glad that soon we'll have our family and I'll go back to feeling normal again. But I feel bad for thinking that way, because I know a lot of people would love to experience all this. And I don't want Noiz to get the wrong idea."

"I know he wouldn't," Oliver replied, tone soothing. "And... I know you're not the only one who worries about things."

"Did Noiz say something to you?" Aoba asked. Oliver nodded lowly, looking away from Aoba.

"He didn't tell me _not_ to tell you, I suppose... while we were working together, especially in the lead-up to this business trip, he made his feelings about you very clear in small ways, I suppose. You and the babies."

Aoba frowned, suddenly feeling nervous. "How?"

"Nothing bad. He'd just say how he wished he could help when you felt sick or tired. I think he feels bad that you're the one who has to suffer through all these changes while all he can do is try to help as best he can. And there was something else..."

Oliver hesitated, shutting his eyes for a brief moment before continuing.

"I think he's afraid he might accidentally hurt your children."

"... Eh?" Aoba questioned, feeling confused. "Why would he be afraid of that?"

"I believe you know the details of my brother's upbringing already," Oliver said dispassionately, in a tone similar to the one Aoba was used to hearing when they were working. "One of the reasons that my parents took the drastic action of locking him away was because of me." 

Aoba swallowed audibly. "What do you mean?" 

Oliver sighed bitterly. "My parents were very relieved when I was born. I showed no signs of the condition that Noiz suffered. They wanted to keep me safe as best they knew how, I suppose. Perhaps they felt they'd been given a second chance at raising a healthy, 'normal' child. On the day that I was brought home from the hospital, he begged to hold me. He was excited to have a new sibling, just like any other child, and they thought that there would be no harm if they were there to watch his every move.

"But it didn't turn out that way. They handed me to him, and as he moved to try and get a comfortable hold I began to cry. Scream, even. My parents were convinced that Noiz had held me too tight and hurt me on purpose. Perhaps that was it, perhaps there was another reason entirely... I was only a newborn and Noiz was only a child, so it's impossible to tell the reason now. But after that, Noiz was told he was not to touch me in case he hurt me. I think that's what made my parents start to think of more extreme ways to keep my brother away from others, and I still regret it. Even later on, when I was older, I don't think I fought hard enough to try to help him."

Aoba sat, mouth agape and mind filling with several different emotions as he processed what he'd just been told.

"But that's not your fault! Or Noiz's! You shouldn't feel bad about that, I mean... how could either of you have even known..."

"Thank you, Aoba," Oliver said with a strained smile, "but this is the sort of guilt that needs more than kind words to heal. I hope that it's different for my brother."

"I know he'd never hurt anyone like that," Aoba said, surprised by the force in his own tone of voice. "He understands pain now... and he knows how to be gentle."

Heat rose to Aoba's face, but he ignored it and wrapped his arms securely around his middle. 

"He promised me once... that he'd think of me from that moment on, and I know he feels the same about these two as well. He's felt that way since we decided we were going to go through with this."

"I'm sure he does," Oliver murmured. "Just make sure to reassure him if he ever seems unsure. I know I wish I could have done it way more than I got the chance to."

"Of course I will," Aoba replied, grinning. Oliver grinned back, and then his gaze drifted over Aoba's shoulder to the clock on the wall behind him.

"Oh, I've kept you so late! I'm really sorry!"

"Eh?" Aoba said, looking over his shoulder and realizing Oliver was correct. "Ah, it's really no bother."

"I'll call the driver now. He'll be here in about ten minutes. Sorry, I have an early start at work tomorrow too," Oliver said breathlessly, standing up and rushing off in the direction of the kitchen. A cat immediately jumped up onto the couch and claimed the spot he'd just vacated. "I forgot to give you dessert, too. I'll put it in a container and you can take it with you."

Aoba was about to protest, but Oliver was already gone. He reappeared with a plastic container full of what looked like chocolate cake just as the doorbell chimed, signaling the arrival of the driver.

"Please take this with you! I made it myself, so I hope you enjoy it."

"Thanks, Oliver," Aoba replied, smiling as he tucked a sleeping Ren under one arm to carry the container in the opposite hand. "And thanks for having me over for dinner."

Oliver beamed. "Please feel free to come over again any time. I don't usually have a lot of people over, so it's always nice to have company."

The doorbell rang again, a little louder and longer, and Aoba turned and headed for the door.

"I will. Thanks again!"

As Aoba left the apartment, he took one final look back and saw Oliver waving goodbye with a smile that carried just the barest hint of sadness. As he rode the elevator down to the bottom floor and was let into the car by the driver, he couldn't help but think that both Noiz and Oliver must have felt different sorts of loneliness in their lives.

* * *

After the excitement of the previous night, the next day went slowly for Aoba. He woke up in the late morning and found he had nothing for breakfast, so after resisting for a while he ate the chocolate cake Oliver had given him for brunch. Aside from showing just a hint of staleness around the outside, it was absolutely delicious.

He had nothing to do for the rest of the day, so he tried to busy himself with the few chores he could find to do around the house. He cleaned the buildup of dirty clothes, washed a few odd dirty dishes and made minor rearrangements in the nursery for the millionth time since they'd set it up. By the late afternoon, he'd run out of things to occupy himself with and settled down to watch television until he got tired. If the time zones hadn't been so different, he might have called Granny up to talk... but perhaps it was a good thing if he didn't. Since their talks on Christmas and New Year's, Aoba had the feeling she was beginning to suspect something was wrong, and he wasn't sure how long he'd be able to make up excuses. And every time he called Noiz, it went straight to messages. Was it even realistic for him to be working this late?

Eventually, Aoba got tired of watching questionable late-night television and headed off to bed, figuring it was better to do so while the babies weren't having a kicking match with each other and the surrounding areas of his body. He stripped off, had a quick shower in the ensuite bathroom, dried himself off with one of the fresh towels and got into bed, letting the heating warm him back up as he snuggled down in the sheets.

He'd become far more independent and settled since first coming to Germany, but because of the awkwardness of being pregnant and the increased discomfort as it neared its end, he'd started relying on Noiz for more things without even realizing it. Perhaps the greatest of those things was simply the company and excitement he provided to Aoba in their everyday lives.

Aoba sighed and shifted further onto his side, grabbing Noiz's pillow from the other side of the bed and jamming it between his legs. It was good that Noiz was coming back the next day, because the restless feeling that had settled in his mind was annoying him.

After a few annoying hours of tossing and turning, Aoba was awoken by the sound of the front door swinging open. In his half-conscious state, he sat up in bed and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, blurred vision drifting over to the clock to check the time. Vaguely, he kicked the blankets off and started to look for his clothes, but the bedroom door opened to reveal a tired-looking Noiz.

"I'm home."

His face immediately split into a grin when he saw Aoba, and it turned into a more carnal smirk as he saw his state of undress.

"Never expected a welcome home present like this."

Aoba groaned and flopped back down onto the bed. "You're not even supposed to... be home yet... _brat_."

"You're cute when you're tired," Noiz said flatly, and Aoba felt the other side of the mattress sag as Noiz sat down on it to undress. "My brother called and told me to fly home because the rest of the deal can be discussed over Coil."

"Mmm. Tell him thanks," Aoba yawned. "... missed you."

Noiz hummed softly as he finished undressing. He slid under the covers and pressed up against Aoba's back, skin on skin, and gently kissed the nape of his neck.

"Anything happen while I was gone?"

Through the cloudiness of his sleep-starved mind, Aoba remembered one important thing he had to tell Noiz.

"I have a name idea... for the other baby."

"Oh?" Noiz asked, and Aoba nodded as he pressed another soft kiss to his shoulder.

"Talk in the morning... goodnight."

Noiz's warm breath tickled Aoba's skin as he laughed, but Noiz didn't lie down right away and try to sleep as he had hoped.

"Aoba."

"Hm?"

"Give me my pillow back."

"... no."


	9. Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate this chapter so much, but I've angsted over it long enough.
> 
> Warning: short porn at the end. Self-beta'd at 1:30am, enjoy the remaining mistakes.

Aoba yawned and stretched his arms above his head, scratching Ren behind the ears as he glanced back at the fading screen one of Noiz's rabbit cubes was displaying.

"Should we watch another one before we turn in?"

Noiz shook his head, Aoba's yawning becoming contagious as he sunk further down onto the mattress, getting ready for sleep. "We'll do it tomorrow."

"Noiz," Aoba said, trying to keep the nervous tone out of his voice as he pointed down at his pregnant stomach, "we have to get this done. They're going to be here soon. Full term..."

"Full term for twins is about thirty-seven weeks, I know," Noiz finished for Aoba, before continuing. "That's still three weeks away. It's not like they can arrive early, either."

Aoba still looked worried, so Noiz leaned over and grabbed the hand he'd been using to point at his stomach and placed a kiss on his palm.

"Everything else is ready. Only the last minute stuff is left."

"I know," Aoba replied, worrying his bottom lip with his teeth. Truth be told, Noiz was actually shocked by how quickly time had gone. It wasn't exactly the cliché of months seeming like days or anything like that, but to think that something so big that had once been so far away was now on the verge of happening was overwhelming. Aoba's body was a testament to that flow of time; his stomach had swelled to a level that Noiz wouldn't have thought was physically possible, his skin has been marked and stretched by the rapid growth of their sons, and the arrival of their children was now imminent after so many months of waiting and preparation. Noiz knew the whole process had been incredibly hard on the other man for several reasons, some of which made him relieved that the whole ordeal was coming to an end. But the feeling of excitement that seemed to bloom and grow between the two of them when they realized they'd soon have a family countered the negatives.

For both Aoba and Noiz, having a family on the way meant having a lot to learn. Neither of them had really been around babies before, and the fact that two fragile new lives would soon depend on them for practically everything was a powerful incentive for learning all they'd need to know.

"Just one more video," Aoba said finally. "Please? It will make me feel better."

Noiz sighed softly, but nodded as he reached for Usagimodoki's keyboard. They both had an early start the next day, but it was one of his last days before his parental leave started and so he could probably afford to lose a little sleep. "Alright."

The little cube's screen lit up in an instant as Noiz directed it to the next installment of the multi-part video series. As usual, a cheap visual effect title card flashed up onto the screen before giving way to the image of a serene nursery setting and an irritating, soft narrator's voice.

"Welcome to the next part of our video series, _Preparing for Baby_. In this installment, we will be covering what is perhaps the most exciting part of your journey: the second stage of labor, the birthing process and meeting your child for the first time." A particularly graphic natural birth image flashed onto the screen, and the video was cut off as Noiz began to skip through it. Aoba glared at him. Noiz shrugged in return. 

"This doesn't apply to us."

"There might be some stuff at the end."

Noiz watched as the video rushed through several scenes of graphic childbirth before ending with a preview of the next video, which seemed to focus on the third stage of labor.

"... or not," Aoba said, wrinkling his nose at the bloody mess currently displayed in front of him. The corners of Noiz's lips twitched upwards, and he leaned over to give Aoba a reassuring kiss before turning his attention back to the screen.

"You have an appointment tomorrow with the doctor and midwife, right? If you're worried, ask them."

"But they've never had to deal with something like this before."

"They'd know more than an Internet video."

Noiz's eyes moved back to screen.

"Can't be any worse than that was."

"Yeah..." Aoba muttered, stifling a yawn as he tried to make himself as comfortable as possible despite his rotund shape. "Hey, Noiz?"

"Hmm?"

Aoba hesitated for a moment, looking down his own body before glancing up at Noiz

"You'll stay with me through it, right? I mean..."

"Why wouldn't I stay with you?" Noiz asked, quirking one eyebrow slightly. "I promised to help you from the start, nothing will change that."

Aoba sighed softly, calming his own frayed nerves, before he smiled lightly at Noiz and shut his eyes.

"Thanks."

Noiz smiled back, leaned over to kiss Aoba goodnight and reached to shut off the bedside lamp so they could both get a good night's rest.

* * *

The next morning was frantic. Distracted by other matters, Noiz had forgotten to set their alarm for the next morning and had left them at a ten minute disadvantage on an already short schedule. Perhaps Aoba couldn't move with so much ease and grace as he had been able to when he was smaller, but Noiz found out very quickly that he could still manage to get dressed, have a light breakfast and scold him all at once. They managed to make up about five minutes of time before they hurried out the door, and Noiz was able to drop Aoba off at his appointment at the clinic in relatively good time; certainly good enough that he wasn't going to be late. The same couldn't be said for himself, and he ended up arriving at work twenty minutes past his usual time thanks to the busy roads. He'd only just collapsed into his desk chair when the phone on his desk let out a shrill ring. The first thing he heard after picking up the receiver was his brother's panicked voice asking him if Aoba was alright; once he'd explained the situation, he was lightly chastised for not calling in to say he was running late and then he was left to do the work he'd been given before he went on parental leave.

Noiz stared blankly at his computer monitor, eyes scanning but not reading one of the emails in his priority inbox. Aoba had told him about his time with his brother the day after he'd returned from the business trip Oliver had sent him on, but it was still weird to think about anyone in his family actually openly caring for the two of them. Their interactions with his parents were polite out of necessity, but strained, and now that they were both retired they wouldn't have known about Aoba's situation unless someone had let it slip. But Oliver... he seemed almost as excited as they were about the impending birth, regularly asked about Aoba's condition and expressed his happiness and well wishes every time they spoke. He'd only become more enthusiastic as time had passed.

Noiz sighed and leaned back into his chair, the leather making soft sounds as he adjusted his body into a more comfortable position. If Oliver was like this now, he'd be almost hysterical once his nephews were actually born.

That only left Aoba's side of things. Despite his promises to tell his friends and grandmother the truth eventually, he was yet to tell anyone at all and seemed to be ignoring the ever-approaching due date of their sons. Noiz hadn't brought it up again after their argument, realizing now that it wasn't his place to pressure Aoba into doing something he wasn't prepared for even if it directly involved himself. Still, he worried about what would happen once their children did arrive. It wouldn't make sense to hide that they'd become parents; Aoba wasn't like that, and it wasn't his main concern with the situation anyway. The problem for Aoba, as far as Noiz could tell, was the question that would immediately follow the big announcement.

_How?_

Of course there was the possibility of lying, but then it wouldn't have made sense to keep it a secret the whole time. Noiz sighed again, sat up properly and went back to his work. They'd already started palming his work off to the other people in his department in preparation for his leave of absence, which had left him with very little to do anyway. His eyes moved briefly to his Coil, which was sitting on his desk in preparation for Aoba's call to let him know how his doctor visit had gone. It was taking longer for him to call than the last few times, but Noiz figured it was probably because it was the last major checkup before the birth.

That thought was exciting and terrifying all at once.

Noiz was just about to refocus on his work when his Coil's display lit up to signal an incoming call, the silver metal vibrating mutely against the wooden desk. Noiz glanced back at it immediately, picked it up and frowned.

The number was definitely not Aoba's; he recognized it but couldn't put a name to it, so after a few moments Noiz picked up his Coil and accepted the call.

"Hello?"

"Is that you, Noiz?"

Noiz frowned as he heard the other person's voice through the Coil's speakers.

"Grandma?"

"That's right," Tae confirmed, sounding as gruff and stubborn as ever. "I figured calling your Coil rather than Aoba's was a good idea."

"Why?" Noiz asked blankly.

"Aoba's is still broken, isn't it? I tried it once, but he didn't answer it."

Noiz searched his brain for an answer to that question and, failing to find one, figured it was just better to agree. "I think he's mentioned that it needs fixing."

"I thought you of all people... bah, doesn't matter," Tae responded. "I wanted to talk to you about Aoba."

Noiz felt his stomach give an uncomfortable little lurch at those words, but figured that there was no easy way to excuse himself from the conversation without his exit seeming forced. Sighing softly to stall for time as he tried to think of excuses, Noiz shut his eyes.

"What about him?"

* * *

"Again?!" Aoba said with a groan, watching as his call to Noiz rang out for the fifth time since he'd started trying to contact him. A hospital worker walking past the rest room where he was sitting gave him an odd look, and Aoba smiled sheepishly and felt foolish for speaking so loudly.

It only occurred to him a few seconds later that he might have been staring because he was visibly pregnant, and Aoba groaned softly and sunk further down into the plush arm chair he was resting on.

It was weird for Noiz's personal Coil to be tied up in a call during work hours like this, but there wasn't much he could do. Even if he phoned his office, he'd still be stuck on the other call and wouldn't answer. He'd just have to wait it out and try to stay calm. They'd told him that staying calm would be important for his own continuing health and the health of their babies.

The examination had gone reasonably well. He'd been a little worried about the apparent lack of movement from the babies, but the midwife had reassured him that their heart rates were fine and they were probably just out of room to shift around as much as they had before. Ren had said much the same thing the last few times he'd asked him to check on the them, but he had also noted that Aoba's blood pressure was becoming a little too high to be normal. He'd brought that up with the doctor, and after a series of tests the doctor had concluded that he wasn't suffering from any particular condition and that his high blood pressure was most likely the result of the continuing strain put on his body by the pregnancy. He'd been given a script for medication, told to rest as much as possible, and told to use Ren to continually monitor the health of all three of them up until the date he'd selected for the birth.

Aoba smiled and placed one hand on top of his stomach. He felt bad for choosing the twins' birthdays without Noiz's direct input, but when he'd seen his actual projected due date, it had seemed to make a strange amount of sense that that was the day on which their sons were supposed to be born. If Noiz didn't like it, the date could always be changed with enough prior notice to the clinic.

Aoba had just made himself comfortable when his Coil's ringtone alerted him of an incoming call; he opened on eye, saw Noiz's name flashing on the display and quickly accepted the call.

"Hey brat, you must be popular today."

"I guess you could say that. Is everything okay?" Noiz asked immediately. Aoba smiled gently in response to his concern, despite feeling that his rushed tone of voice was strange.

"I'll be fine. I just need you to come and pick me up on your lunch break, the doctor said that I..."

"Tell me when I get there," Noiz said, and Aoba heard the muffled sound of movement through the phone as Noiz got out of his chair. "I'm coming to get you now."

"... eh?" Aoba said, checking his Coil's displayed time. "But it's still so early... at least tell your brother!"

"He won't care as long as I explain the situation to him. He's already given most of my work to other people."

"You don't even know the situation yet," Aoba sighed. "I mean, it'd not good but it could be a lot worse, and..."

"I wasn't talking about that," Noiz said, but the sudden change in the tone of his voice told Aoba that he wanted to be, and soon. 

Aoba frowned a little stretching his legs with a soft grunt to try and relieve the aching in his ankles and feet. "So what _were_ you talking about?"

"Grandma phoned me. She wanted to talk about you."

"... huh?" Aoba said, suddenly feeling a great deal more nervous than before. He should have figured it was something big from Noiz's behaviour, but Granny calling him directly was one of the last things that Aoba would have guessed was wrong. Of course she had his number for emergencies, but she'd never really used it before... and it was easy to guess why she'd decided to do so now. "What ha..."

"I'll tell you what happened when I get there," Noiz said, beginning to sound a little breathless. "I'll be there soon."

"... okay," Aoba replied, his voice suddenly sounding small and strange even to his own ears. As the line went dead and he put his phone back in his pocket, he wondered if the lies he'd told over the past few months would unravel neatly or weave themselves into a messy net.

* * *

Noiz phoned Aoba once he was at the pickup and drop off zone outside of the clinic. Aoba was still in line at the tiny pharmacy to pick up the pills he'd been prescribed when he received the call, and the next thing he knew he was turning around to leave the pharmacy and almost crashing headlong into Noiz, who had apparently decided that a few minutes of waiting was too much.

"You could've just waited for me," Aoba grumbled, tucking the bottle of tablets he'd just received into his bag.

"You said something was wrong," Noiz said, body language and speech casual but gaze intense. "If it concerns the safety of you and our sons, waiting is out of the question."

Aoba sighed and grinned, reaching up to ruffle Noiz's hair. "You've become such a responsible guy. What happened to the brat I came to Germany with, huh?"

"Shut up."

"Ah, there he is!"

"Aoba," Noiz said, gaze more intense than ever, "tell me what's wrong."

"I told you, it's nothing too bad. My blood pressure is just higher than it should be, but as long as I take care of it... with tablets, bed rest and using Ren to track the three of us," Aoba clarified in response to Noiz's questioning look, "everything will be okay. I can still do things normally... just no strenuous exercise or anything like that, and plenty of rest."

Noiz nodded, apparently satisfied with Aoba's answer, and they walked the short distance out to the car park together. Aoba frowned as the automatic doors opened to reveal their car parked in the clinic's emergency loading bay, but he sighed and shook his head in defeat rather than bringing the matter up. In Noiz's world, anything that was remotely threatening to him was dire. He got in the car as quickly as he could to encourage Noiz to do the same, groaning in frustration as he felt one of the baby's heads shift to rest directly on his left hip. It hurt like hell, but it couldn't really be helped.

"Sometimes I think they do this on purpose," he groaned as Noiz started up the car. "They're not even born and I can already see how they take after you."

Noiz hummed softly in amusement, but his smile was genuine. It was really amazing, Aoba thought, that such casual mentions of their children and their relation to Noiz could make the other man so happy, and he'd secretly resolved to do it as much as possible just to see the reactions he got.

Once the car was out of the parking lot and onto the quiet mid-morning road, Aoba glanced over at Noiz and cleared his throat to break the silence. Noiz's eyes left the road for a moment to acknowledge that he was listening.

"What's wrong?"

Aoba frowned, wondering if Noiz had that short a memory. "You told me Grandma phoned you before."

"Ah." Noiz lifted his fingers off the steering wheel in a dismissive gesture. "I didn't tell her anything about you or the babies, if that's what's worrying you. She suspects we're hiding something, though. I don't know her as well as you do, but I don't think she's happy about it."

Aoba sighed and ran a hand through the front of his hair. "I didn't mean to make her angry."

Noiz shook his head. "Grandma's not angry."

Aoba opened his mouth to question Noiz, but immediately shut it again when he realized what he'd meant. He wanted to respond, but he had trouble finding the right words. Finally, after a few minutes in which the silence was only filled by the quiet hum of the car's engine, he said the first thing that came to his mind.

"I didn't know she was so worried about me. I didn't want that to... that's what I was trying to _avoid_ , and..."

Aoba trailed off, and silence once again filled the interior of the car. For the rest of the journey, Aoba tried to steal glances at Noiz to try and get an idea of how he was feeling about the situation; their last discussion on the matter had almost ended badly, and from that moment on Aoba had tried to handle hiding his condition from his loved ones back in Midorijima on his own. If Noiz still had an opinion on the matter he hadn't voiced it since, and that made Aoba remember how much his words had hurt the last time the subject had come up.

But it also made him think of how happy Noiz was, how proud he was of their family, and how he'd kept silent on the subject since. He'd locked Noiz out since their argument, but perhaps it was time to let him back in.

They reached home fairly quickly, the traffic from earlier that morning having finally disappeared as the peak travel time had come and gone. The parking garage beneath their apartment complex was dark and quiet, and the atmosphere helped Aoba relax while he tried to work through his conflicting feelings to find a solution to his troubles. He wasn't even halfway done when he felt Noiz's arm slide around his shoulders, the pressure of the touch grounding him and slowing his panicked thoughts to a crawl.

"What should I do?" Aoba asked. 

Noiz hummed softly in the back of his throat, fingers curling around the ends of Aoba's hair.

"You want me to tell you what I think you should do?"

"I need you to tell me what you think," Aoba said simply, and Noiz nodded.

"You should tell Grandma, at least. She can tell the others."

"... okay," Aoba said, letting out a long sigh. "I know I should have done it sooner, but..."

"It doesn't matter now," Noiz said, eyes moving briefly to the clock on the car's dash. "We can phone her when we get upstairs, if you're ready."

"That's..." Aoba started, but he bit back his own words and insecurities and nodded instead. "Okay, let's do it."

"Both of us?" Noiz asked, and Aoba grinned and nodded.

"It's good to know you'll be with me for this, you know."

Noiz's confused expression shifted into a small smile as he pulled his hand away from Aoba, and he used it to open his car door instead.

"Let's go upstairs. Might take a while to work out how we're going to break the news."

* * *

Their first calls to both Tae's home phone and Coil rang out. Aoba had barely been on rest for twenty minutes when it happened, and he was already having to resist the restless feeling in the back of his mind that was telling him to get up and pace. One attempt at putting his body weight back on his aching feet and ankles told him it was a bad idea for more than one reason, and so he got back into bed and screwed around on his Coil while Noiz made them both drinks. 

Noiz came in a few minutes later with a mug of hot herbal tea for Aoba, a coffee for himself, and both of their Allmates following closely behind him as he walked. Usagimodoki bounced off Ren's head and onto the bed first and Ren, seemingly resigned to the boisterous nature of his companion, simply jumped up onto the bed after him and walked to Aoba's side.

"Aoba, are you okay?"

"You were right about my blood pressure," Aoba said, gently scratching the Allmate behind the ears. "I guess I've got to take it easy from now on."

Noiz shooed his own Allmate out of the way with a flick of his wrist and got onto the bed, handing Aoba his drink before making himself comfortable.

"How are you feeling?"

"Fine. Really," Aoba added before he sipped his tea, having noticed Noiz's skeptical look. "Just kind of nervous. Which probably isn't helping the blood pressure thing."

"We can try calling Grandma again now," Noiz suggested, watching as Aoba stared down into his teacup. "The situation isn't going to fix itself until you take the first step."

"... okay," Aoba replied, exchanging his cup of tea for his Coil, which he'd left sitting on the bedside table. Noiz put his own mug down and moved closer to Aoba, who gave him a look that was half-amusement and half-disbelief. Noiz rested his chin on Aoba's shoulder in response, and Aoba shook his head as the dial tone began to sound through the Coil's speakers. The shoulder Noiz was resting on seemed to be growing more tense with the passing seconds, and he moved back and raised his hand to gently rub the tension out of Aoba's muscles, trying to relax him. 

On the last ring of the dial tone, an image flickered to life on Aoba's Coil display. Tae stared back at them with a surprised look on her face, her body wrapped in a nightgown and her damp hair pulled back behind her head.

"Hi, Grandma," Aoba said with a grin, but it faltered as Tae's expression changed from surprise to anger.

"Idiot! If your Coil was working all along you should have told me!"

"I got it fixed today?" Aoba suggested, sounding like even he was doubting his own words. Tae's scowl deepened in response.

"You think that I can't tell when you're lying to me after all these years?!"

"Okay, I'm sorry!" Aoba said. The hand that wasn't holding his Coil was now twisting the blanket in his lap into ugly knots. "I'm really sorry, Grandma."

Noiz picked up on the change in Aoba's tone of voice immediately, and it turned out that Tae really was as sharp as ever because her expression softened considerably.

"Is something wrong, Aoba? I talked to Noiz this morning, and he said...

"That everything is fine," Aoba finished. "It's not that something is wrong... I mean, not really, it sort of depends on your perspective and..."

Noiz gently grabbed Aoba's hand in his own; Aoba jumped in surprise, as if he'd forgotten Noiz was there at all, and the younger man took his chance to gently guide Aoba's hand until they were both shown by the Coil's camera.

"It wasn't a lie. Aoba is fine," Noiz said, watching as Tae's eyes moved from Aoba's face to his own. "Because of something out of our control, Aoba can't visit you right now. So I want to offer you the chance to visit us both in Germany instead. I'll cover all the costs."

"Noiz..." Aoba murmured. His expression was hard to read, but Tae's wasn't; she had returned to her initial look of confusion and surprise.

"Why can't you fly home? What's going on?"

Aoba's face faltered, and Noiz gave his hand another gentle squeeze. Then, with just enough pressure, he guided Aoba's hand again, pushing it down until the Coil's camera was focused on his swollen stomach.

If Tae had looked shocked before, it was nothing compared to the utter disbelief that was now showing on her face. She opened her mouth, shut it again, and then stayed silent for a good half minute before she even attempted speech again.

"Is this some sort of joke?"

Aoba laughed, somewhere between soft and strained, and shook his head as he placed his free hand on his belly.

"I guess you'll be getting those great-grandchildren after all, huh..."

Tae's lips moved wordlessly for a second before she regained her composure, and she shook her head, her face a complex map of emotion.

"I can't believe that this actually happened..."

"... eh?" Aoba asked, frowning at Noiz. The other man simply shrugged, unable to offer an answer.

"It looks like I'll be visiting after all," Tae sighed, pulling her nightgown more tightly around her body. 

"We can figure out the details tomorrow. It's late in Japan, right?" Noiz asked, and Tae nodded. "In that case, we'll call you again in the morning."

"That sounds fine to me," Tae said, her expression still strange. "Take care of yourself, Aoba."

"I will. I know this was a huge shock, but... try and sleep well, okay?"

"I'll talk to you in the morning, then," Tae responded, and after they had all exchanged goodbyes Aoba ended the call.

"Feeling okay?" Noiz asked Aoba, and the other man nodded despite his worried expression. "You don't look okay."

"No, I feel fine. Everything went better than I thought, but..." Aoba murmured, trailing off as he spoke.

"Hmm?"

"I just thought her face was kind of weird when she said she couldn't believe it."

"It was probably nothing," Noiz said dismissively. "It must have come as a real shock."

"I guess so," Aoba replied. He looked a little more reassured after that, and he smiled as Noiz leaned 8ver to kiss his cheek. "Thanks, brat. For everything."

"You're welcome," Noiz replied, and he smiled as Aoba turned his cheek as he went in for another kiss, the angle perfect for their lips to meet.

* * *

Just over a week later, Noiz found himself waking up to a four a.m. alarm. He swiped irritably at the Usagimodoki that was ringing, but ultimately dragged himself out of bed and to the bathroom for a cool shower to wake himself up. Feeling slightly more refreshed, he went over to the large, curled-up lump in the blankets on the other side of the bed and leaned down to kiss it.

"Aoba, it's time to get up."

"Five more..." 

"You can't sleep in today," Noiz said, a small smile on his lips as the corners of Aoba's lips curved downward. "We have to get to the airport."

Aoba was up and half-dressed five minutes later, not bothering with a shower in favour of lying on the couch and taking the multitude of supplements and medicines he needed to take with a glass of juice.

"They kept me up all night," Aoba groaned between mouthfuls of drink. "They were always doing ~~something~~ that stopped me from sleeping. It's driving me crazy."

"They'll be here in two weeks... not even two weeks, actually," Noiz reminded him, and Aoba nodded.

"I know, I know. And then they'll be able to keep us both up at the same time."

"Once they're here there's a chance of calming them down. Can't really do that now."

Judging by Aoba's expression, Noiz got the feeling that he'd be the one dealing with most of the upsets in the middle of the night. 

Even in the very early hours of the morning, there was signs of life around town. A few cars on the road here and there, people braving the darkness and cold for exercise, convenience stores and fast food outlets dealing with early customers on their way to work or those just finishing late night shifts. Aoba stared out the window for a while, eyes slowly drooping shut as the scenery along the highway to the airport offered nothing of interest to look at.

The next thing Aoba was aware of was a loud mechanical beep; the sound startled him awake and he rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands to wake himself up. It seemed they were in the airport's parking complex.

"Feeling better?" 

"Sort of," Aoba muttered, the glare he tried to give Noiz made ineffective by his tiredness. "Cut that out."

"Why?" Noiz questioned, feigning innocence even though he was smirking. "You look so cute all when you're sleeping."

Aoba's sighed, pointing out to Noiz with some irritation that they really needed to be looking for parking spots. They finally found one several floors up; Noiz shut off the engine and looked towards Aoba.

"Are you going to come?"

"Ah..." Aoba said, his brain briefly warring with his emotion over the decision before it won. "I want to, but..."

He looked hopelessly at Noiz, trusting him to realize what he was trying to say. Noiz was silent and still for a moment, but in the end he seemed to agree with Aoba and nodded. 

"I'll leave the keys in the ignition for the radio and the heating."

"Thanks," Aoba said, giving Noiz an apologetic smile. "Sorry. And tell Grandma the same thing when you see her."

"Don't be," Noiz replied, and he leaned over to kiss Aoba before he opened his car door. No matter how or when he did that, Aoba always reacted the same way; reflexive tension from surprise, sudden and total relaxation, and pink cheeks as they parted. Noiz gave Aoba one final, cheeky smirk before leaving the car and heading for the airport's main buildings.

The international terminal was now a familiar place for Noiz. His first visit there had been years ago when he'd left home for Midorijima. Since his subsequent return alone, his departure three months later and his next return accompanied by Aoba and all the trips they'd taken in between, he'd learnt the building like the back of his hand. His knowledge almost balanced out Aoba's poorer sense of direction. 

The airport was absolutely flooded with people on this particular day. Because of the nature of his family's business requiring him to travel in addition to their usual trips back to Midorijima, Noiz usually found himself waiting to fly out in the airline's first class lounge rather than the main terminal. He couldn't help but feel the difference in the two was particularly obvious on days like this. After about fifteen minutes he managed to find a seat that wasn't too much of a walk from the arrivals gate, sat down heavily and checked the time on his Coil. About ten minutes until Tae's flight was due to land, and there was no indication that it was delayed.

The time passed slowly and every sound seemed too loud, so much so that Noiz couldn't help but sigh in relief when the status of the flight changed to show it had landed. Customs would probably take longer than usual thanks to the crowds, so Noiz remained seated, arms and legs crossed as he watched passengers from the recently landed flights begin to trickle through the nearby gates. As he stared off into the distance, a distressed-looking woman with a screaming baby in one arms and pulling a heavy luggage trolley with the other obstructed his view. The woman sighed and focused on trying to calm her baby, and Noiz watched her until she began looking around for a spare seat and found none available.

"Excuse me."

The woman looked over at him and visibly shrunk away, as if expecting him to yell at her as loudly as the baby was. "Yes?"

"You can take my seat. The person I'm waiting for shouldn't be long now." 

"Oh, thank you," the woman said, face breaking into a relieved smile as she walked over and took the chair. The baby seemed to have calmed down, and as his mother fumbled for something in one of the bags on her trolley he began staring directly at Noiz with large, glassy eyes. Noiz smiled reflexively, hoping to calm him even further, but he quickly turned and walked towards the arrivals gate as the baby's face screwed up to caricature-like proportions and went bright red as he let out another eardrum-piercing shriek. 

Honestly, he wouldn't know what to do if that was one of his children. Especially if he was reacting to him directly. What if he held them too tightly when he was trying to comfort them and made them cry harder? Noiz shook his head as he approached the gate to free his mind from the heavy thoughts. He wouldn't in a hundred years let his sons associate him with pain, even if the fear was there.

He was so distracted by his thoughts that he didn't notice the short, rather annoyed old woman standing behind him.

"Staring off into the distance... honestly, you didn't see me at all!"

Noiz spun on his heel to be confronted with a frowning Tae carrying a large, familiar bag of luggage. Surprised by her sudden appearance, he asked the first thing that came into his head.

"Isn't that Aoba's bag?" 

"I didn't have a proper suitcase and I needed something to use. Aoba left it when he moved here," Tae replied, frowning as Noiz reached over to her. "I can carry it myself, it's not that heavy. Where's Aoba?"

"In the car," Noiz answered, somehow feeling as if he was being interrogated as revenge for keeping Aoba's pregnancy a secret for so long. "Did you have any other luggage, Grandma?"

"No, this was all I needed. I'll only be staying until my great-grandchildren are a week old, correct?" Tae said, and then paused. "I owe you my thanks for this."

Noiz shook his head. "It's nothing. I've said before that money isn't a problem."

"Not just for that. For looking after that idiot grandson of mine too."

Noiz was going to protest again, but Tae gave him a stern look that effectively silenced him. Instead, he nodded and accepted the compliment.

"This wouldn't have been possible if you hadn't allowed him to come with me."

"Then we're both in the same frame of mind," Tae said. Another passenger rushed by and almost knocked her in his haste, and she gave a long, drawn-out sigh.

"Let's go, this place is too crowded to endure for another minute."

"Aoba will be wondering where we are by now."

Tae responded with a small smile and let Noiz lead the way out of the terminal.

* * *

When Noiz returned to the car, he found Aoba staring nervously through the windshield of the car with his hands steepled tensely in his lap. He knocked on the window, startling Aoba so much that the other man almost hit his head on the car roof. After shooting a glare at Noiz for surprising him, Aoba's frustration visibly melted away when he caught sight of Tae watching him from a few paces behind Noiz. After that, Aoba flung the car door open and hugged Tae as closely as he could with his belly in the way.

"So it wasn't just some joke to get me to come over here, hmm?" Tae asked, amusement evident in her tone. "You're so big I can't even get my arms around you."

"You think I'd joke about something like this?" Aoba laughed. He sounded just the slightest bit teary, and Noiz smiled as he watched them pull away and get into the car, talking the entire time.

During the car ride home, Noiz let Aoba and Tae do most of the talking. He only interrupted a few times with questions about the flight or other inconsequential things; now was Aoba's time to spend with his grandmother. Although Tae looked a little older than the last time he'd seen her, she was still as strong as ever.

Once they returned to the apartment, the first thing they did was to check on the booking they'd made for Tae at a local hotel that catered specially to foreign guests. There had barely been enough room for the nursery in their apartment, and Aoba had assumed that she would be more comfortable in a place with a proper bed. Tae told him that she could have had a futon sent over, but she also seemed happy that they'd gone out of their ways to make her comfortable. After having lunch together and being presented with a few clothes Tae had made by hand for their sons and a few gifts from people back on Midorijima -- though the punch Tae had been told to give Noiz by Koujaku remained undelivered -- Noiz noticed Tae staring at Aoba as he cleaned up after their meal. Noiz stood up and took the dirty plates from him instead, gently placing his hand on Aoba's shoulder as he guided him away.

"I can handle this. Go into the lounge and rest."

"I can help you," Aoba said as he followed Noiz over to the kitchen sink. Noiz did understand his insistence. This was probably the most active Aoba had been since his blood pressure diagnosis, and he hated feeling as if he was useless and simply sitting around doing nothing. However, there were more important things to be dealt with now, and he looked over to Tae pointedly just after his eyes locked with Aoba's. That seemed to get the message across, and Aoba walked back over to Tae and pointed over her shoulder to the living room.

"Grandma, let's go and sit in the living room. Noiz can take care of the cleaning on his own."

Tae's quick agreement told Aoba that Noiz had been right, and they moved away from the kitchen and into the comfort of the lounge.

"That boy is sharper than I give him credit for," Tae said, sitting herself down on one of the armchairs while Aoba lay down on the couch. Ren trotted over and jumped up onto her lap, and she gently petted his fur. "Not very subtle, though."

"Yeah, he's not so good at being sneaky," Aoba laughed softly. "He's too honest for his own good."

"Are you happy with him?"

"Eh?" Aoba muttered. "Why would you ask that all of a sudden?"

"It's been a while since I last asked you," Tae stated simply.

"I love him," Aoba said, hand resting on his stomach. "We're going to have a family. I'm very happy, Grandma."

"Mmm... it's just natural that I should worry about you," Tae said, sighing softly in relief as her armchair reclined. "But I should be able to see when I have nothing to worry about too."

"It's nothing to do with Noiz. He's been perfect the entire time. He's cared for all three of us and put us before himself, but..."

Tae nodded for him to continue, and Aoba sighed guiltily.

"I just hate the feeling of not having my body to myself. I'll be glad when they're here. Well... maybe hate is too strong a word but... I don't like being this way."

"It's almost over," Tae said, sympathy evident in her voice, and Aoba laughed softly.

"I know... but even when the day comes, there's so many uncertainties. It's not just the operation itself... though they don't know if that will go differently to every other cesarean section ever done either. We just don't know anything, and..."

Aoba sighed, biting his lip as he looked away.

"Sometimes I wonder how it even happened. Did Noiz even have a part in making them or was it some other weird thing? How did it happen in the first place? I just... oh."

"Hmm? 

Noticing his grandmother's concerned look, Aoba shook his head to reassure her.

"They're moving around. They don't really have room anymore, so... it's kind of surprising when it happens now."

A comfortable silence stretched between them as Aoba rubbed at the places on his stomach where he felt movement. Eventually, Tae broke it with a soft sigh.

"If what you told me earlier is true, you have no reason to worry. Even if there's no biological relation, Noiz would still think of them as his children. Your children. Blood isn't always thicker than water, and you should know that."

"... I know," Aoba said. It really was a luxury anxiety on his behalf. They lapsed into silence again, listening to the sound of running water from the kitchen as Noiz finished with the washing up.

"Aoba."

"What is it?" Aoba asked. For a minute he had let his mind wander, and he hoped that he hadn't seemed rude. As he turned back to Tae, he suddenly felt nervous upon seeing the look on her face. "Grandma?"

"Aoba... there's something I need to tell you."

"What's wrong?" Aoba said, stomach suddenly turning over at her serious tone. Much to his surprise, the only response he got was a shake of the head.

"I'll tell you after the babies are born. For now you should focus on staying calm for the sake of your health."

"Okay," Aoba said, not understanding at all. Unfortunately, that was the moment that Noiz chose to join them, and Tae pointedly changed the subject to signal the end of their conversation.

* * *

"There was something weird about Grandma today," Aoba muttered. Noiz, already half-asleep, rolled over and hummed vaguely in question. 

"Hmm?"

"What do you mean by that sound?" Aoba said, looking over his shoulder and sounding slightly annoyed. Noiz stifled a yawn and rolled over to press his body against Aoba's. He hadn't noticed anything strange about Tae's behaviour right up until she'd left for the hotel.

"How was she weird?"

"When we were talking alone... she said she had something to tell me but it had to wait until after the babies arrive."

"It can't be too important if it can wait that long," Noiz said, lightly shrugging his shoulders.

"But what if..." Aoba started, but Noiz leaned over and kissed him quiet.

"You should relax. You're tense."

"But Noiz," Aoba said, a soft whine in his voice that turned into a subtle moan as Noiz began to kiss down his spine. He pressed back against him, body trembling lightly as Noiz's lips brushed over the base of his spine. "Noiz..."

"No?"

"Yes," Aoba breathed, and Noiz arched a brow at him.

Yes to this or yes to the no?"

"You know what I mean!" Aoba snapped, cheeks pink as Noiz moved lower, spreading his ass cheeks apart and sliding his tongue across the sensitive flesh around his hole. After a few minutes he moved higher, gently sucking and licking Aoba's balls and cock until he was completely hard before pulling away.

"Just lie back," Noiz murmured when Aoba tried to prop himself up. "I'll take care of everything." 

"Cheeky brat," Aoba murmured, and Noiz smirked and gave his own cock a few quick strokes as he reached for the lubrication on the bedside table. He coated two fingers with the slick substance and looked back at Aoba, licking his lips as he saw the other man reach for his own cock in anticipation.

"Ready?"

"Yeah," Aoba breathed, and he gasped softly as he watched Noiz reach his hand back and begin to tease his own hole. The pressure was nice, Noiz thought as he carefully eased the tip of one finger into himself, but it wasn't enough. After a few more moments of teasing, he pressed both fingers into his hole as deep as he could bear.

"Hurts," he breathed, a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Idiot," Aoba snapped, sounding anything but annoyed. "Don't do it if you're going to hurt yourself!"

"It's fine," Noiz breathed, cock twitching between his legs as his fingers brushed against a sensitive spot inside. After a few more minutes of more careful preparation, Noiz took his fingers out of himself and walked over to Aoba on his knees, straddling him.

"Noiz..." Aoba murmured, shivering as Noiz kneeled over him and reached down to hold his cock steady.

"It's alright," Noiz said, gently brushing his free hand over the swell of Aoba's stomach. Moaning softly as he rubbed the head of Aoba's cock against his entrance and pressed down, Noiz took Aoba's cock into his body inch by careful inch.

"Noiz," Aoba whispered again, and Noiz wondered if Aoba was even capable of saying anything else as he began to rock his hips.

"See? Nice and slow."

The accusation of teasing Aoba aimed at Noiz was cut off by a man as he became lost to pleasure.

* * *

The days began passing quickly. With Tae around during the day to help them to prepare for the birth and their first few weeks as new parents, the last minute things seemed to fall into place much easier. On the night before Aoba's operation was scheduled, they stayed up a little later than usual to enjoy each other's company. This would be the last night they spent just as a couple, Noiz realized. In under twenty-four hours they would be a family of four.

The next morning at six a.m., Noiz found himself unable to sleep from nerves. Groaning and rolling over to check on Aoba, Noiz was surprised to find the other man awake and staring back at him.

"Can't sleep?"

Noiz shook his head and Aoba laughed softly.

"Me either."

"The alarm's set for ten past anyway. That should give us enough time to get ready and pick up Grandma on the way."

"Yeah," Aoba said, and he smiled as Noiz leaned over to kiss him. "Today's the big day, huh?"

"It felt like it took forever. But if was worth waiting for."

Aoba squirmed inelegantly in order to get close to Noiz, and they stayed huddled together under the covers until the alarm went off.

"You can take the shower first," Noiz said, and he smiled and ran his hand down the smooth skin of Aoba's back as he got out of bed and headed for the bathroom. As Aoba shut the door to keep the heat in, Noiz caught a brief snippet of sound coming from the shower radio before it was drowned out by the running water.

"Good morning, the time is quarter past six on the first of April. Watch out for those April Fools jokes today!"

Lying back against the pillows, Noiz could do nothing other than smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The twins' birthday is April 1 because everyone thinks it's a joke when they find out Aoba's pregnant. Get it? |D;; 
> 
> Next chapter is the big one! The last chapter is more of an epilogue, so... enjoy them!


	10. New

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Self beta'd, as usual. All mistakes are my own.
> 
> Please be aware that there is some medical content in this chapter. This is the birth chapter, after all!

"Today is the big day, is it?"

Aoba nodded, looking flustered at the attention he was being shown by the nurses at the clinic's reception. Noiz adjusted his grip on the two heavy bags of belongings he was holding and wondered how many times he'd hear that phrase before the day was out. After a few more minutes of mindless chatter, the forms necessary to admit Aoba as a patient were produced and they were invited to fill them out in the waiting room while the birthing suite they'd been given was prepared. Aoba passed the clipboard of forms off to Noiz in surprise as a bag full of complimentary comfort items for the stay was suddenly offered to him, and Noiz managed to tuck it beneath his arm without dropping both bags he was carrying on the floor.

"I've sent the request for one of our staff to come and escort you to your room, Mister Seragaki. It shouldn't be long before we'll have you settled and ready for the birth," the nurse said with a smile. Aoba thanked her and turned back towards the waiting room chairs to look for his grandmother.

Tae was already sitting in one of the waiting room chairs towards the end of the front row, close to a television set displaying the early morning news bulletin. Aoba sat down heavily next to her with a relieved sigh.

"I didn't expect them to get so excited..."

"It's their job to make you feel comfortable," Tae said. "And you're an unusual case."

It was easy to take a different meaning from that if you were thinking too hard, and Tae certainly would have known it as someone with experience in the medical field. To put it plainly, they were also interested in Aoba in a scientific and medical sense but they had no permission to look into his condition.

And that was the way it would stay, Noiz thought. Aoba seemed to be thinking along the same lines, because his smile was slightly strained when he turned to Noiz.

"Noiz, can you pass me the forms?"

Noiz stayed standing, but dropped the bags again in order to retrieve the clipboard the forms were attached to from under his arm.

"Tell me if you need me to read anything for you."

As Aoba perused the forms and wrote down whatever information needed to be provided, Noiz stared vacantly at the television screen. The sound was turned so far down it was almost inaudible, but he could read the news ticker running along the bottom of the screen. 

No excitement, no dramas, no controversies to speak of. Perhaps it would be best to call it a slow day, and the idea of their sons coming into the world on such a day appealed to him.

After a few minutes and a handful of quick translations of more complex medical terms for Aoba, the nearby elevator's bell rang as it reached their floor. Another nurse appeared from through the elevator doors, pushing a wheelchair in front of him. He saw the three of them sitting in the waiting room and walked over to them, a kind smile on his face.

"It's finally time to become parents!"

At least that was a bit different, Noiz thought as Aoba gave the nurse a smile and a nod to humor him. 

"Your suite is all ready for you," the nurse continued, "and the cesarean section is in just over two hours, correct?"

"Ummm," Aoba said, lifting his arm to check the time on his coil. "Closer to one and a half, but that's right."

"Okay then, let's get you up to the room! Just take a seat in the wheelchair and we'll be there in no time."

"I don't really need something like that..." Aoba replied. "I can walk just fine."

"Please, Mister Seragaki. We want to make your stay here as comfortable for you as possible. We don't want you to have to lift a finger while you're under our care," the nurse said, and Tae scoffed as she looked up at Noiz.

"Is he trying to make Aoba go up in the wheelchair?"

Noiz nodded, trying to stop himself from smiling as Aoba grinned sheepishly at the confused nurse. "Yeah. It doesn't seem like he's going to drop it, either."

"Hmph. If he doesn't want to use it, he should listen to the patient."

"I'm right here, you know," Aoba sighed. "And I bet he knows what we're saying."

"I doubt he speaks Japanese," Noiz said with a shrug. Aoba gave him a withering, long-suffering look.

"He doesn't need to understand the language to see the looks on your faces!"

The nurse coughed, putting an end to the conversation. "Ah, I apologize for the interruption but we are on quite a tight schedule. We need to get you settled and then perform the preparations for the surgery as soon as we possibly can."

"I understand," Aoba said quickly, cutting off any responses that Tae and Noiz may have had planned. Launching himself off the chair with a surprising amount of dexterity for his current size, Aoba walked over and sat himself down in the wheelchair before anyone could argue either point further.

"Okay, let's go up. I'm ready."

Noiz tried to hide his amusement as they all prepared to board the elevator, but the look that Aoba gave him as they all crowded inside told him he wasn't doing a very good job of it.

* * *

Aoba's eyebrow twitched lightly, his grip on the arm rests of the wheelchair tightening so much that the plastic squeaked under the pressure. The nurse had just left to alert the anesthesiologist and obstetrician to their presence, and they'd been left alone in the hospital room he'd be staying in until he was discharged.

"Oi, Noiz."

"What's wrong?" 

"I thought you said we were only going to get the basic suite when we talked about a few months ago?"

"Ah," Noiz said, looking around the room at their surroundings. "I was looking at the other rooms online at work one day and I thought they looked better, so I called them and changed it."

"This is bigger than our apartment!" Aoba exclaimed. "It's more like a hotel than a hospital!"

"I don't think it's that extravagant. I just want you to be comfortable while you're here."

Aoba sighed. "I understand that, but we don't need a hospital room with three beds and bathrooms."

"I thought Grandma might have needed space to stay, depending on the circumstances," Noiz said with a shrug, but Tae shook her head from the nearby couch.

"I'll pass on that, thanks. I'll definitely stay here for the delivery and come to visit, but I'm fine at the hotel. Besides, I assume you two will want time with your children."

Aoba looked unsure how to answer for a moment, and Noiz knew why; it would be hard to say how long it would be until the next time they would travel to Midorijima now that they were going to be parents, so it was natural that Aoba would want to spend as much time with his grandmother as he could. Still, Tae would still be there for a week after the babies were born, which was good. Aoba was also expected to be released from hospital after three days or so, which would leave the two of them extra time to spend together. With such young babies to care for and with Aoba recovering from the operation, it would be good to just relax at home with their family.

"I can organize for a company car to bring you here any time," Noiz said to Tae. "And of course you're welcome to come over any time once Aoba's discharged, too. You can even stay in Germany longer if you want to."

Tae merely nodded in thanks, but the relieved look on Aoba's face was definitely the best part of it for Noiz. Aoba lifted himself out of the wheelchair with a groan, taking Noiz's hand when he offered it so he could get on his feet. He walked over to the large window that took up most of the wall in the small living area in the room and pressed up against it, looking outside across the city. Although the building they were in wasn't all that tall, it did provide a nice view. It made Noiz smirk a little as some dearly-held memories came back to him, but his amusement faded as Aoba began to pace back and forth with a strained look on his face.

Tae looked up from the couch and sighed softly, folding her arms across her chest.

"Aoba, you should try to conserve your strength."

"I know," Aoba replied, voice small as he sat next to Tae on the lounge. For lack of anything better to distract himself with, he picked up the welcome pamphlet from the clinic that had been left in the room for them to read, and as he sat back and began to read his expression gradually more and more deadpan.

"Are you alright?" Noiz asked, and Aoba shot him a look that was almost accusatory.

"We don't even need half this stuff, I mean... manicure and pedicure services? Hair styling services? They even have an option for five star dining... I don't even need the stuff they gave me downstairs."

"I think that one famous restaurant around here is the one that provides the food," Noiz replied casually, and Aoba sighed deeply.

"It really is more like a hotel, huh... ouch!"

At the sudden sound of pain, Noiz crossed the room in an instant and was by Aoba's side. Aoba let out a deep breath and nodded once to signal that he was okay.

"They're moving around a lot today... I'm surprised they still have room to kick," he said with a light smile. "Guess they're as ready to be out as we are to have them out."

As if on cue, there was a soft knocking on the room's door; Noiz was the only one standing up and so he headed over to open it and found himself staring at the two people who, in a very short time, would have the safety of Aoba and both of their children in their hands.

"Aoba Seragaki?" one of the doctors asked.

"He's in here," Noiz said, standing aside to let them through. They introduced themselves and asked Aoba if he had any questions about the procedure, before producing the consent forms for the operation and the anesthesia that Aoba would need for pain relief.

"Once the forms are signed, we'll start preparations for the procedure," the anesthesiologist said with a smile. "I assume you've already consented to that?"

"Yes, but the nurse didn't take those forms before he left..." Aoba said.

"It's fine, we'll take them down to reception with the forms we just gave you and then we'll be able to proceed."

"Right," Aoba nodded, still looking a little pale but more determined overall as he handed over the forms.

"In that case, we'll take you into your room over here and do some of the basic prep. Do you want someone there for support?"

Noiz looked over at Aoba immediately to double-check whether he wanted him there with him, but he was surprised when Aoba gave him a reassuring smile and shook his head.

"Not for this, but... they said Noiz could be with me in the delivery room."

"Ah, so he's going to be your support during the birth," the obstetrician said, humming under his breath and looking Noiz up and down. "You're fine with being separated for now, right?"

Aoba nodded, and the doctor grinned and clapped both hands together.

"If that's the case, we can take you down now and get you ready too."

For a moment, Aoba looked uncertain with his decision and that in turn made Noiz feel concerned for him, but he was distracted from his worries by the sound of Tae clearing her throat to get their attention.

"I'll stay here with you, Aoba."

That was a clear message for both of them, and Noiz sighed in relief and nodded. With Tae here to look after Aoba through the pre-op, Noiz could rest assured that he was being looked after while he prepared for his part in the birth. Aoba would need him there more than ever.

Noiz walked over to Aoba slowly, the distance between them as he stilled just small enough that he could reach out and brush Aoba's shoulder with his fingertips. Aoba looked a little embarrassed -- probably due to Tae's presence -- but thankful for the gesture nonetheless.

"I'll see you soon."

Aoba nodded but said nothing. The doctors, seemingly satisfied with the outcome, split up and attended to Noiz and Aoba singularly.

"If you'll follow me, Mister..."

"Noiz is fine."

"Noiz it is," the anesthesiologist smiled. "Anyway, we'll be going to get you ready while they prepare Mister Seragaki for the operation. I'll explain your role once we get down there."

Noiz nodded, the verbal reply he had prepared sticking in his throat as he realized that the next time he was in the room, he and Aoba would be fathers.

* * *

It was weird, Noiz thought as he stood restlessly outside the operating theatre where Aoba had been taken, that every milestone leading up to this one had made the impending births of their sons more real. From the moment they'd found out what Aoba's mysterious "illness" was, to deciding to go through with the pregnancy despite the strange circumstances and become parents. From the gradual growth of Aoba's belly, the first signs of movement from their growing babies, right up through the final months and everything in between; all those tiny moments would stay with him in memory, but ultimately they'd all led up to this day.

Noiz stared idly down at his hands for lack of anything better to do. Soon, very soon, he would be holding his sons for the first time.

For all the excitement and anticipation surrounding the event, the anesthesiologist had told Noiz that the babies would be born fairly quickly and that the lengthiest part of the procedure would be stitching Aoba up afterward. He was free to accompany the neonatal nurse caring for the babies to the nursery after the procedure and was able to visit Aoba in the recovery room once he was well enough, but for the operation itself his main job was to sit in a designated spot near Aoba's head and support him. He'd already been dressed in surgical scrubs and cleaned himself up to avoid bringing any sort of contamination into the operating room; now all that was left was to wait for Aoba and the doctors to be ready.

It was both exciting and terrifying because of the gravity of it all.

The door to the operating room opened suddenly and it took all of Noiz's self-control not to jump in surprise. A nurse was standing there, her grin just wide enough to make Noiz suspect that she had seen his moment of shock.

"Feeling a bit nervous, are we? Don't worry, your husband is in good hands."

Noiz blinked. "Ah. We're not actually..." 

The nurse made an embarrassed squeaking sound that rang in Noiz's ears and blushed. "Sorry, I shouldn't have assumed."

"It's fine," Noiz hurriedly reassured her. The only thing between him and Aoba was the nurse, and he wanted to go inside and be with Aoba as soon as possible. 

Despite all of this, Noiz quickly found his mind being overrun by a single, simple question.

_Why not?_

"Ah, please try to relax," the nurse said, and Noiz realized she must have mistaken his thoughtful expression for one of worry. "Mister Seragaki is waiting for you, so please follow me through to the operating theater. Oh, and please put this on."

The nurse held out a surgical mask, still sealed in plastic. Noiz was worried that if he tried to reply he wouldn't be able to make a sound, so he took the mask and put it on without a word. He kept his mouth firmly shut even as the nurse led him through the doors to a dimly-lit corridor that branched off into separate operating rooms. She walked down to the farthest one from the entry door and stepped aside to let Noiz through. Noiz paused for a second to take a deep, calming breath and then stepped through the door, the sterile smell and atmosphere of the room assaulting his senses. Aoba was in the middle of the room, his hair secured behind his head and hidden beneath a surgical cap and his body hooked up to several monitors. A large drape had already been set up to shield him from where the doctors would make the incision, and there were at least two IVs running into different places on his body.

"Just sit on the chair by his head there," instructed the nurse. Aoba turned his head at the sound of the nurse's voice and his expression transformed to undeniable relief.

"Noiz."

Noiz managed a smile as he walked over, and as he sat down he leaned over and kissed Aoba's forehead through the face mask he was wearing.

"How are you feeling?"

Aoba took a deep breath and then let it out in an equally deep sigh.

"The examinations were kind of... not that great. While you were gone I got poked and prodded and tested..."

Noiz laughed softly, grateful for the distraction from the tense situation. Aoba pouted and glared.

"Brat."

"Heh... sorry, Aoba."

"So am I. I'm just rambling. I'm nervous," Aoba sighed, and he shut his eyes. He smiled up at Noiz as he opened them again.

"I'm nervous, but I'm excited. I'm happy. I can't wait to meet them."

Noiz smiled and leaned down again, pressing his forehead against Aoba's.

"I know."

The doctor Noiz had met in the room before looked over the top of the drape shielding them from Aoba's lower half, his smile still evident behind his surgical mask.

"Feeling good? We're all ready to go here."

Aoba swallowed audibly, but nodded to the doctor to indicate his consent. "Yeah."

"Okay... we've already mentioned this to Aoba, but from the examinations earlier it seems that one of your little ones is properly positioned for delivery and the other is breech."

"What does that mean?" Noiz asked, surprised at how aggressive his own voice sounded. The doctor didn't seem fazed; he was probably used to the tension rising in his patients and their families at times like this.

"Nothing too serious, considering we're already delivering them like this. He might have an inelegant entry into the world but he'll be fine if there are no complications."

Noiz nodded slowly, and the doctor smiled back and disappeared behind the drape.

"Okay, in just a moment we'll begin the incision."

Noiz watched as Aoba's hand suddenly tightened, his fingers curling white-knuckled against his palm. He reached down to cover it with his own in an attempt to comfort him, but in reality he was feeling as nervous as Aoba looked. It was only a matter of minutes until his children would be with them, and with his mind in a state of turmoil it was easier to worry about what could go wrong.

Would they be healthy? Would he be a good father? Was everything going smoothly on the other side of the curtain? Would they be able to feel him when he touched him?

For a while there was nothing from the other side of the drape aside from the soft sounds of machines Noiz couldn't name and the doctor's requests for new surgical implements. Aoba looked pale but seemed to be handling the operation admirably; Noiz gently brushed his thumb over the top of Aoba's hand as the minutes crawled by. Finally, after the longest few minutes of Noiz's life, the doctor appeared again.

"We're just about to deliver the first baby."

A few moments passed where everything seemed to stop, and then several things happened at once. Aoba winced and tightly grabbed Noiz's hand, the doctor gave a triumphant laugh and a mere second later the operating room was filled with a shrill cry that made Noiz's heart almost jump into his throat.

Aoba gasped, looking up at him with moist eyes.

"Noiz..."

The doctor came back into their line of vision. "Here he is!" 

Noiz's breath caught in his throat; there in the doctor's hands, covered in indescribable things and oddly flushed but otherwise _perfect_ was his firstborn son, face screwed up in apparent displeasure as he cried. Noiz barely had the chance to look at him properly before he disappeared from view, taken away by one of the nurses to check on his health. Noiz felt speechless as he turned back to Aoba but noticed that Aoba was on the verge of tears. He felt his own eyes burning, but he was distracted by the doctor's voice.

"Here we go... his brother is coming now. Bottom first, though. Remember that one for his future dates, alright?"

It wasn't even funny, but when Noiz saw Aoba start to laugh and lift one hand to wipe the tears from the corners of his eyes he couldn't help but laugh too. Perhaps it was just the relief finally overwhelming them, but the atmosphere felt lighter as they heard their second son's cries join his brother's, even if the sound made tears brim in both their eyes again. Their younger son was lifted up for them to see as well, looking very similar to how his newborn brother had looked during his first few moments in the world. He was taken away just as quickly, and one of the nurses walked over to them with a smile on her face.

"Congratulations to both of you! We'll have your boys ready for you to hold in a moment, okay?"

"Yeah..." Aoba said, voice still stricken with emotion. Noiz smiled at the sound and squeezed Aoba's hand.

One of their sons was still crying, but the other had fallen into relative silence aside from the strange, surprised cry that left his lips when the nurse picked him up and brought him over for Aoba to hold. Noiz realized that it was their eldest son that had just been put into Aoba's arms, and he felt surprised at himself that he could remember that so quickly. It was as if those first few seconds after their births were all he needed to commit them to memory. Aoba smiled down at him, gently shifting his arm to relieve the pressure on his IV before managing to shift their son's tiny body into a position comfortable for both of them.

"Here's your other little one!" the nurse announced, and Noiz held out his arms for the bundle of blankets that contained their second child. Now that they were closer together he could see that their younger child was actually the larger of the two, and now that he was clean it was easy to see that he had a rather messy shock of strawberry blonde hair. Their eldest son had a meager few strands of blue hair, but unlike his crying brother he had calmed enough to open his eyes a little; they were a familiar shade of pale green.

"They're finally here," Aoba murmured, his soft voice still audible over their younger son's cries. "I can't believe it. They're perfect."

"Of course they are," Noiz replied, smiling as he put his hand up to their son's, the baby's tiny fist curling around one of his fingers with surprising force. "They're our children."

A few seconds passed in comfortable silence between them, the only sound their son's cries and the doctors and nurses voices as they began to stitch up Aoba's incisions. Noiz gently placed the baby he was holding down next to Aoba on the hospital bed so he could see him better, and Aoba smiled.

"Hey, Aoba."

"Hmm?"

Noiz looked down at Aoba and their two sons and felt love fill his heart to the point that his chest began to ache. "I love you."

"I know," Aoba murmured, looking up at him with a small, content smile. "I love you too."

* * *

The moment Noiz stepped out into the reception area in the hospital and turned his Coil back on, he was bombarded with messages and missed calls from his brother. Sighing softly, Noiz began to scroll through them all, unsure if he was amused or irritated by Oliver's enthusiasm. 

It had been about an hour since their sons had been born; Aoba had just been put into recovery after being stitched up. Noiz had spent a few minutes with him, but it had become clear that the operation and painkillers were taking their toll on him. Noiz had promised to return when he was back up at the suite they'd be staying in for the next few days and left him to rest. Before that, he'd been invited by the neonatal nurses to accompany them back to the nursery with the babies. Once they'd arrived, they told him that they would be giving them both a vitamin shot to bolster their immune systems.

Suddenly, he had felt nervous again. He hadn't expected the moment when he'd find out if his sons could feel to come so soon, but luckily his worries had been unfounded. Both babies started screaming the moment the injection was administered to them; the nurses had probably thought that it was odd for him to look happy in reaction to the pain of his sons, but he didn't care. They'd been able to feel it when they'd first held them in the operating room. From their first moments together as a family, they'd been able to feel the presence of both of their fathers. It may have seemed like a given to anyone else, but to Noiz it was extremely important.

After being shown how to feed them Noiz had been assisted with their first meal by the nurses and told that if all went well, they would be brought up to their suite in a few hours so that all four members of the family could begin to adjust to their new lives. Because Aoba would be bedridden until the next day, they were free to call the nurses to care for the babies in the nursery if need be. As much as Noiz was looking forward to fatherhood, it was good to know that they had support if they needed it.

Noiz's Coil suddenly began ringing, Oliver's familiar phone number flashing up onto the display as the shrill tone echoed through the empty room. Noiz muted the ring tone and accepted the call.

"Oliver."

"Ahhh, Noiz!"

His brother's voice was so loud and so distraught that Noiz had to move his Coil away from his ear. 

"Why did you take so long to answer?! Is everything okay? Did something go wrong? The operation was an hour ago!" There was a dramatic pause of approximately four seconds, during which Oliver seemed to take Noiz's stunned silence as sadness. "Something went wrong, didn't it?"

Noiz sighed and ran his free hand through his hair.

"Everything is fine. I only just came from seeing Aoba in recovery."

"Aoba's in recovery?" Oliver questioned. From somewhere in the background, two or three annoyed-sounding meows could be heard. "Then that means..."

"They're here," Noiz said, unable to keep the smile off his face. "They arrived about an hour ago, like you said."

Oliver let out such a loud cheer that Noiz was now holding his Coil almost at arm's length.

"Noiz, I'm so happy for you! You're a father! And so is Aoba! Wow, this is..."

Oliver lapsed into silence for a moment, before letting out a sort of annoyed grunt.

"What's wrong?"

"You haven't told me anything!" Oliver snapped. "What are their names? How big are they? Are they cute? You haven't even sent me a picture yet! And how is Aoba doing?"

Noiz narrowed his eyes. "Of course they're cute. They're perfect."

"My big brother sounds so much like a proud father already," Oliver replied happily, and the heat that suddenly bloomed on Noiz's cheeks made him feel relieved that they weren't video chatting. "What about everything else?"

Another meow came through the Coil's speakers, and Noiz frowned.

"I thought you were at work today."

"Ah... when I woke up this morning I was too nervous about your babies being born to go into the office, so I'm at home with the cats." 

The guilt was so obvious in Oliver's tone that Noiz smirked.

"Father won't be pleased."

"That doesn't matter. He still doesn't know why you've taken so much time off, you know."

"He can keep wondering," Noiz said shortly.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to tell him. I told him I was up sick all night and needed a rest day. Anyway, you haven't answered all of my questions yet!"

Noiz hummed, thinking back to what Oliver had asked him earlier. "They were just over six pounds each, the nurses said they were bigger than average for twins. We have names for them both, if Aoba hasn't changed his mind since they were born. Aoba is fine, he's sleeping right now and when I left they were about to take him up to our room. And if you're not at work, you can come down and see them for yourself."

"I can see them?"

"Yeah," Noiz said. "I don't know if they'll be awake, but..."

"When can I be there?"

Noiz smiled and shook his head as Oliver cut him off. "Eleven to two or four to eight. If you come later then they're more likely to be out of the nursery and up in the room."

"Is four okay?"

Noiz once again found himself wondering where his younger brother got his enthusiasm from. It definitely wasn't from either of their parents. "It should be."

"I'll be there!" Oliver said happily. "Congratulations to you both! I can't wait to meet my nephews."

They said goodbye, and Noiz couldn't stop smiling even as he walked back to the elevator to return to the hospital room.

* * *

The next few hours were extremely quiet. Aoba was still asleep when Noiz returned to the hospital room, having just been brought up from recovery. He'd looked into the room just to check on him; he was a little pale and dark around the eyes and had a thin, clear tube rubbing beneath his nose to help his body get oxygen, but he didn't appear to be in any pain or distress. Noiz smiled as he walked back into the main room of the hospital suite, relieved that everything had gone so well. Tae was sitting on the lounge, watching some sort of morning program in German that she probably couldn't understand a word of. She glanced up at Noiz as he came towards her and smiled.

"He was awake when they brought him up, but barely. He said everything went well, and that he was glad you were there with him. You've been good to him."

"Thank you," Noiz replied, smiling gently as the two fell into comfortable silence. After a few minutes, Tae turned her attention to Noiz.

"I went and saw my great-grandsons while you were away just now."

Noiz suddenly felt guilty for not taking Tae down to see them himself, and she must have read it on his face because her expression changed to a deep frown.

"Don't look like that! I can hardly blame you for having other things on your mind today, and I was able to get to the nursery without any trouble."

She raised her wrist briefly to show Noiz her Coil.

"I don't like using this thing, but when it comes to translation it's convenient."

Noiz nodded slowly, gaze focused on the television but mind paying close attention to Tae's words.

"What did you think of them?"

"They're beautiful, of course," Tae said stubbornly. "And they both remind me of Aoba when he was younger in different ways. The eldest one looks more like him, I think... the younger one is probably more like him in personality."

"What do you mean?" Noiz asked, and Tae sighed.

"When I was down there, he was screaming and kicking so hard that he'd kicked away the blanket they'd swaddled him in. When Aoba was in a bad mood when he was younger, everyone in the house knew."

"Oh?" Noiz asked, trying to keep the grin off his face and failing spectacularly.

"He was usually a good boy, though," Tae said. "I'm just happy he was able to grow up as well as he has. As I said to him when he came to me asking if he could move here with you, it's amazing that he's come this far."

"How so?"

Tae fell silent at that, and Noiz frowned. It seemed like a perfectly innocent question to him, but it seemed to have thrown Tae off for a reason he wasn't sure of. The sound from the television filled the sudden silence between them. Tae shut her eyes for a few moments, sighed softly and opened them again, turning to look directly at Noiz.

"Noiz."

"What is it?"

"You love Aoba."

Noiz frowned. "Of course I do. I need him."

"I wasn't questioning it," Tae said calmly. "Just stating it. And I know Aoba feels the same for you. You want to stay by his side forever, correct?"

A lump formed in Noiz's throat, Tae's words and the feelings he'd felt just before the birth suddenly combining into a nervous sort of certainty in the back of his mind. 

"... yes, I do."

A few seconds passed in silence before Tae spoke again.

"Do you think that you know everything about him?"

"No," Noiz replied. "But I want to. The good, the bad, it doesn't matter. Nothing could change how I feel about him."

"Hmph," Tae said, folding her arms across her chest. "What if it was something so big, you would have no choice but to look at him differently?"

"Seeing him differently doesn't mean seeing him negatively," Noiz said, feeling more confused by the minute. "Grandma, why are you asking this?"

Tae averted her eyes. For the first time since Noiz had seen her, he thought that she actually looked so old and tired that she actually matched her age.

"No reason."

"Is it something to do with what you were going to tell Aoba after the babies were born?"

That seemed to surprise her, which made Noiz sure that he'd been on the mark. Tae laughed softly as her eyes met Noiz's again.

"I suppose I'm not the only one Aoba has to share his concerns with anymore. I should have guessed that he would tell you." 

"Then I'm right."

"You are," Tae stated simply. "But now isn't the right time to tell you."

Noiz frowned. "When will be the right time?"

"When Aoba is feeling better."

"So this was some sort of test."

Tae smiled. "If it makes you feel better, I never doubted that you would pass."

The ending jingle of the show that was on the television began to play, and Tae stood up and carefully reached behind her body to rub the small of her back.

"I might go for a walk. Sitting around for so long is making my bones feel stiff."

Noiz nodded in silence for lack of anything else to do, and was already deep in thought by the time Tae had made it to the door and left the room.

* * *

Aoba woke up a few hours later, still looking pale and tired but feeling happy as ever. A nurse came up to check on him a short while later; she checked him over thoroughly, adjusted his pain relief and asked him if he had any concerns.

"Ah, I'm not sure if you'd know, but..." Aoba started as she checked on his IV, "do you know when my babies will be able to be in here with me?"

"They were born early this morning, weren't they? I'll have to check with the neonatal nurses, but if the babies are healthy they'll probably be able to be brought up now. Aside from that, it's really a matter of whether you feel well enough."

"I'm feeling fine," Aoba answered quickly, wanting to reassure her. "Their other father is here with me too, so he can help with them."

"I'll have to check," the nurse said patiently, "but it should be fine. And don't forget that you can have the nursery look after them if you start to feel tired or unwell."

"I know," Aoba said, smiling. "Thank you."

"It's fine, Mister Seragaki. The nursery should ring the phone by your bed to let you know one way or the other."

After the nurse left, Noiz stepped into the room. Aoba couldn't help but laugh at the expression on his face; it was awkward, perhaps a little bit uncertain, and the overall appearance it gave to the other man was comical.

"What's with that ugly look on your face?"

Noiz shook his head, smiling as he walked over and took the seat by Aoba's bed.

"It's nothing. How are you feeling?"

"Better," Aoba said, responding to Noiz's smile with his own. "Happy."

"Did you ask about the babies?"

"Mmm, they said they'd ring the room to let us know," Aoba said, biting his lip. "I really want to see them."

"I know," Noiz said. "If it makes you feel better, both Grandma and I agree that they're perfect. And she said they both take after you."

"Really?"

Noiz smirked. "Yeah. One in looks and one in attitude."

"... what's that supposed to mean," Aoba said, eyes narrowed. Noiz laughed, and Aoba slowly, carefully wriggled upwards against his pillows.

"Where is Grandma?"

"She went back to the hotel for a while. She said she had something to do, and that she'd be back during the late visiting hours. My brother is coming over then, too."

"Oh," Aoba said, feeling slightly upset at his grandmother's sudden departure. Still, they'd been up early that morning, and it was probably outside visiting hours by now. 

The phone suddenly rang, causing both men to jump in surprise. Aoba tried to reach across to grab the receiver, but found that his reach fell just short because of the IV in his arm; Noiz stood up and answered instead. After a quick conversation, Noiz put the receiver back down and gave Aoba a small smile.

"They're going to bring them up now."

The next few minutes of Aoba's life were definitely the longest he'd experienced so far, but the knock he heard at the door announcing the presence of the nurses still surprised him when he heard it. Noiz stood back up and walked out of the room, giving Aoba a brief smile before he disappeared around the door completely. The soft sounds of voices reached Aoba's ears, but not clearly enough for him to make out more than a few words. After that, soft footfalls signaled that everyone had started moving and Aoba felt his breath catch in his throat as two nurses pushed two identical, tiny cribs through the door to his room. Noiz brought up the rear, the same small smile that he'd given Aoba before still on his face.

"They're sleeping right now," one of the nurses whispered, "but I thought you'd like your little ones with you anyway."

Aoba nodded, unable to find words as both cribs were pushed close to the edge of his bed to allow him to see inside. Both of their sons were snoozing peacefully, swaddled up snugly in their blankets.

"We'll leave you all alone for now, but tell us if you need anything," the other nurse said quietly, and they left the room. Noiz stepped closer to the cribs, looking over the opposite side of them to Aoba with a grin.

"Happy that they're here?"

Aoba nodded, finally finding his voice as his eyes blurred with tears again. He desperately wanted to reach out and touch them, hold them... but resisted. They were tiny, fragile and had just been through the most exhausting event of their young lives. As tempting as it was to hold them now, he knew there would be many more opportunities.

"Yeah... but..."

He frowned as he looked at the little cards stuck to the cribs above both babies' heads. It contained information such as their birth weights and lengths, and his own name, but not the most important information of all.

"Noiz, you didn't tell them their names?"

Noiz shook his head. His eyes didn't leave their sons.

"I wanted to make sure you still thought the names were good before I told them."

Aoba looked down at their babies as they slept; they were both an odd but perfect mix of both their fathers, from their mismatched hair colours to the features of their faces. After a few moments of taking them both in, Aoba nodded his approval.

"I still think they fit."

"So what do you want me to do?"

Aoba's lips curved into a smile. 

"When does your brother want to come over and see them?"

* * *

Oliver arrived at four o'clock, almost on the dot. Tae returned about twenty minutes later, and the room was suddenly a little too loud for the babies to continue sleeping; they'd woken up before then, but their cries hadn't been quite so distraught on those occasions. Aoba held their younger son and quietly hummed to calm him while Tae nursed his older brother. Noiz went to retrieve some bottles of formula to give them, and Oliver sat on the chair by Aoba's bed looking upset.

"Are you sure they're okay? They're crying awfully loud."

"I think they're okay," Aoba said. Truthfully, he had nothing to go on but a hunch he hoped was right. "It's been a while since their last bottle... they're probably just hungry."

Aoba looked to Tae for approval, and she nodded.

"It's the best guess."

The door of the room swung open, and Noiz called out from the entrance to let everyone know he was back. He entered Aoba's room with a bottle in each hand, and quickly passed one each to Aoba and Tae.

"They should still be the right temperature."

Tae and Aoba both nodded their thanks; Tae was able to get the older twin drinking happily in a matter of seconds, but Aoba was still struggling to get their younger son to latch onto the bottle.

"Aoba, give him to me for a second," Noiz said calmly, and Aoba was getting so worried that he was doing something wrong that he gave their son to Noiz without another word. A few moments later, he was feeding as happily and quietly as his brother was.

"You've impressed me, brat," Aoba said, only half-joking. Noiz shrugged and turned to his brother.

"Oi, you hold him."

"Wha--?!" Oliver yelped, but Noiz calmly offloaded the baby to him without a second glance. He continued to feed contentedly on his bottle and after about a minute of this during which nothing shocking occurred, Oliver visibly relaxed.

"So, uhh..." Oliver started, still looking uncertainly at the tiny bundle cradled in his arms, "have you named them yet?"

"Well, we have some ideas," Aoba said, suddenly feeling nervous. He pointed at the older twin, smiling at the way his hair formed three tiny blue curls on the crown of his head. "We were thinking that he would be named Luca."

Oliver beamed in approval. "I think it suits him perfectly. What about this little one?"

Aoba's smile faltered and he blushed awkwardly as Oliver gave him a questioning look. "Ah, actually... we kind of wanted to ask you something."

"Hmm?" Oliver hummed, looking confused.

Aoba was about to talk again, heart in his throat, but Noiz beat him to it.

"We wanted to know if we can name him after you."

For a moment, the room was enveloped in stunned silence. Oliver's face had turned red and a look of disbelief had settled on his face. It didn't seem like Noiz was going to offer any explanation, so Aoba jumped in.

"We thought it was a good idea because, well... you were there for Noiz when you were both younger, and you've always treated me like family, so..."

A loud sniff interrupted Aoba, and he looked over to see tears brimming in Oliver's eyes.

"I can't believe it, but... if you want to do that, of course it would make me happy. Thank you, Aoba. And big brother."

"Don't mention it!" Aoba said quickly, but it was too late; Oliver was truly in tears now. "I think it really suits him, anyway."

"Heh," Noiz laughed at his younger brother. "You don't need to start crying about it."

"You've cried today yourself," Aoba pointed out, but Noiz shrugged it off.

"Is that supposed to embarrass me? Besides, you have too."

Aoba opened his mouth to respond but he was cut off by little Oliver starting to crying, the rubber nipple of the bottle still in his mouth. His uncle looked horrified, but Tae quickly handed Luca off to Noiz and went over to pick up her younger great-grandson.

"Look what you three have done now," she sighed, and all three men fell quiet out of guilt. She quickly noticed the change in mood and rolled her eyes as she rested baby Oliver on her chest.

"It's nothing bad, you idiots! He just needs to be burped."

Aoba couldn't help but laugh at the situation as the older Oliver let out a deep, genuine sigh of relief.

* * *

With so much to learn and do, the next few days passed by quickly. Tae arrived early every day and left equally as early, excusing herself and saying she still had work to do on something she was finishing. Oliver visited after work every day, and before Aoba knew it he was being told that both he and their sons were in good condition and were being discharged from the clinic. There was a lot to do, of course; packing up all the things they'd used in the past few days, writing out several forms to make their sons' births official, organizing ongoing checkups for both Aoba and the twins and collecting the medicine and supplies Aoba would need to care for the incision they'd made for the birth. Luckily, they were already fine when it came to supplies for the babies.

On their final hour in the clinic before they left for home, Noiz and Aoba both worked hard to prepare their sons for the trip. They dressed them both snugly in the rabbit-print jumpsuits that Oliver had given them for Christmas and placed the matching beanies on their heads to keep them extra warm. Both their sons objected loudly when they were changing them; they didn't seem to enjoy being naked one bit, but it was quite cold for being Spring. Luckily, they calmed down once they were redressed and placed in their capsules.

Noiz was just about to inform reception of their impending departure when someone knocked at their door; figuring it was the orderly coming to clean the room, Noiz walked over and opened the door only to be surprised by who he found standing in front of him.

"Grandma?"

Aoba joined him immediately, trying to hold Luca's capsule in one hand and his suitcase in the other.

"We're about to leave for home. You could have just met us there..."

"I know," Tae said, and she reached into the bag she was carrying as she stepped into the room. "I wanted to catch you before you left. Here"

She withdrew two knitted baby blankets from the bag, both striped pale green and baby blue and placed one each over Oliver and Luca. Aoba was smiling, but he still looked confused as Tae moved through the door and sat down on the lounge.

"Thank you. Um, we're about to leave now. You can come back to the apartment if you'd like..."

"No, that's fine," Tae said. "This won't take long."

She watched as Aoba and Noiz looked at each other and then moved back to the lounge with her, dropping their suitcases but keeping Oliver and Luca safely by their sides. She smiled at the sight; they had a lot to learn of course, any new parent did, but she knew they would do well.

But now wasn't the time for that.

"Aoba, I told you that once the babies were born I would need to tell you something."

Aoba looked blank for a moment, but Noiz immediately looked serious; it was fresher in his memory, after all. Finally, Aoba seemed to remember and he frowned.

"This couldn't wait any longer?"

"It could have, but I didn't want it to wait any longer."

Tae sighed softly, feeling a little nervous herself. Noiz and Aoba both looked grave as she began to speak again.

"Aoba, I need to tell you something. Maybe I should have told you a long time ago."

She glanced down at her great-grandsons.

"It's about your birth. And because of that, it also concerns how these two came to be."

* * *

Their apartment was completely shrouded in darkness as Aoba unlocked the door and stepped inside. Mindful of the precious cargo that was sleeping inside the car capsule he was carrying, he paused to reach for the hallway light so he could see his path clearly. 

"Everything okay?" Noiz asked from behind him, looking up from the other identical capsule he was holding. It was freezing outside, and it seemed to Aoba that he'd caught Noiz tucking the blanket Tae had knitted gently around a bleary-eyed Luca to protect him from even the slightest hint of cold. Aoba looked down at his own capsule and grinned; Oliver was sound asleep, tiny fists visibly curled up under the identical blanket that covered his own body. 

"I'm fine."

Noiz nodded and took a pointed step forward, and Aoba edged down the hall until there was enough room for everything to fit inside the tiny entranceway of their home. Noiz dropped the suitcases he and Aoba had taken to the hospital for the delivery with a small sigh of relief, and smiled as he leaned over to give Aoba a small kiss on the cheek.

"Welcome home."

"Thanks," Aoba grinned, glancing down at both their sons. Noiz followed his line of sight and hummed under his breath.

Aoba's grin widened. "Not just our home anymore, either. I guess we could show them around, but they don't look like they'd be able to take it all in right now."

As if on cue, Oliver let out a soft yawn before falling soundly back asleep. Luca's eyelids now also had a rather prominent droop to them, and Aoba took that as a sign to keep moving through to the lounge.

Ren and Usagimodoki were waiting for them on the couch in front of the television. The rabbit cubes tumbled off the cushions with some rather muted squeaks, and Aoba could only assume Noiz had turned their voice mechanism down in advance to avoid disturbing the babies. Ren jumped down and trotted over to sit at Aoba's feet, and Aoba placed Oliver's capsule down so Ren could have a closer look.

"Welcome back, Aoba. Are you alright?"

"I'm great, Ren. Just a bit tired and sore," Aoba replied, leaning down to try and pick up his allmate. The sudden dull ache around the bottom of his stomach warned him of how bad an idea that was, and he nodded in thanks as Noiz put down Luca's capsule and bent down to pick up Ren and hand him over. Aoba gently bumped his forehead against Ren's and then held him in his arms, the Allmate's paws and head poking out over his forearm so that he could see the babies.

"I'm glad that they were delivered safely," Ren said, tail wagging softly against Aoba's chest. "May I ask their names?"

"Luca and Oliver," Aoba said, pointing each out in turn. Ren squirmed suddenly and Aoba handed him back to Noiz, who put him back down on the floor next to the baby capsules. Standing on his back legs and using the edge of one of the capsules as support for his upper body, Ren looked over each baby and wagged his tail.

"Welcome, Luca and Oliver."

A few moments of silence followed, during which the rapid wagging of Ren's tail slowed and ceased.

"Aoba, are they okay? They do not seem to want to respond to me."

"They can't talk yet," Aoba said, laughing softly. "I guess you've never been around babies before, huh..."

"Indeed. I should investigate further, so that I will be able to offer assistance to you and Noiz."

The rabbit cubes squeaked and rolled over each other. "Usagimodoki will help too!" 

Aoba watched as Ren jumped up onto the couch and looked at both babies from his new vantage point. He sat down on the left side cushion with a soft sigh, watching as Ren jumped to get out of the way as Noiz came to sit with him. The babies were now soundly asleep in their capsules, and after a few minutes of watching them Aoba sighed again, stretched his arms gently over his head and moved to stand up.

"We should probably put them in their cribs, right? And try and get some sleep before they need a change..."

"Just a moment," Noiz said, and he snaked his arm around Aoba's waist and tugged him back onto the couch. Aoba gave him a questioning look that was a little too innocent to be genuine; Noiz responded with a light frown.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Really," Aoba said firmly, noticing Noiz's disbelieving look. He sighed and squirmed until Noiz removed his arm from around his waist, but Aoba caught Noiz's hand in his own before he could withdraw it completely.

Aoba took a deep breath and linked his fingers with Noiz's. "It was a shock... but I guess after what happened, it made sense didn't it?" He looked down at their sons and smiled. "I mean... this couldn't have happened if there wasn't something weird about me."

Noiz opened his mouth to protest, but Aoba shook his head.

"I don't mean it in a bad way. It is weird, but... even after what Grandma told me about the past and how I came to exist, I'm not angry about it. It must have been hard for her too, to hide it from me for all those years thinking I'd hate her, or that I needed to be protected from it... but I don't think I could ever be mad at her for it."

Noiz listened to Aoba talk, hand unconsciously tightening its grip. In some ways, it was hard for him to accept that something so huge had been kept from them -- from Aoba -- by someone who he trusted so deeply, but he also felt that he knew Tae well enough to acknowledge that her intentions hadn't been malicious. 

"None of this changes anything," he said, shrugging. "Nothing could ever change how I see you. I'm happy as long as you are."

"I'm very happy," Aoba said with a grin. From somewhere at their feet, a tiny but distinctive snore emerged from one of their sons, and Aoba's grin widened.

"If things had gone differently, we might have never met each other. Who knows what else could have happened to me if you hadn't come chasing after me that time, demanding a rematch in Rhyme even as the cops were chasing us down, brat? These two might not have ever existed. I guess the best way to put it... how do you say it..."

Aoba trailed off, cheeks just slightly pink as he stared down at his and Noiz's intertwined fingers.

"I don't want to imagine my life being any other way than the way it is right now."

A sort of swooping feeling ran through Noiz's stomach, familiar but also completely alien because of the strength of it. His hands moved of their own accord, moving to cup each side of Aoba's face and direct it towards his own as he leaned down to press a firm kiss to Aoba's lips. Aoba, although somewhat tense from shock at first, eased into the kiss happily and shut his eyes.

Noiz had been thinking over the days Aoba had spent in the hospital, wondering if what he was planning was something they both wanted. Now that Aoba had said that, he was sure.

"Aoba," he breathed as they parted, something in his voice making Aoba shiver.

"Hey, hey... calm down, alright?"

"Aoba," Noiz repeated, staring straight at Aoba's face until their gazes met and locked. "Marry me."

There was complete silence for a few seconds, Aoba's cheeks suddenly burning beneath Noiz's hands as the words sunk in. Another few seconds passed without verbal reaction, and by the time Aoba responded Noiz's insides were twisting out of nervousness.

"Eh? Wha-- _ehhh_?!"

A soft gasp came from below them, and Noiz looked down to see Oliver's face scrunch up and turn an angry shade of red before he let out a cry that suggested that Aoba's voice had been a little too loud for his liking. Two distressed sobs were enough to wake Luca up, and that was enough to make their eldest son start crying along with his twin. Momentarily stunned by how quickly things had gone downhill, Noiz released his hold on Aoba and quickly leaned over to pick up one of the babies. Unfortunately, Aoba had had the same idea and they met halfway in a perfect collision, heads smacking sharply against each other.

"Ow..." Aoba groaned, holding the side of his head as Noiz rubbed the sore spot just above his eye socket with gritted teeth. Neither of the babies looked as if they were going to calm down and both seemed equally upset, and Noiz couldn't help but feel that life had suddenly thrown one of the toughest decisions he'd ever had to make at him with no warning. Luckily, Aoba made the choice for him and leaned over to pick up the baby who was closest to him. Noiz watched as Aoba picked Luca up and gently rested his head on his shoulder, and he immediately reached for Oliver and did the same.

"Off to a great start, huh?" Aoba said over their sons' cries, and Noiz sighed softly as he began to gently twist his upper body from side to side to calm Oliver down.

* * *

That had been the start of their first truly stressful moment as parents. They'd just about managed to calm both babies down when Luca had started crying again; luckily, it definitely hadn't taken them long to realize he needed a nappy change. Oliver had started crying soon after Luca had calmed for the same reason, and Noiz had volunteered to deal with it while Aoba prepared bottles for both of them. Noiz had just finished wondering how something so tiny and fragile could make such a mess when Aoba returned, and he'd let Aoba take the small lounge chair in the nursery to sit on and leaned against the change table in a semi-comfortable position in preparation for feeding the babies. It took just a little bit of effort to make Oliver latch onto the bottle's teat, but he seemed to be getting the hang of it a lot more quickly than his older brother. 

"Tickle his lips with it," Noiz said, and a few seconds later Luca was also happily sucking away at his own bottle.

Aoba gave Noiz an impressed look, and the younger man smirked just a little.

"I had to remember something from all those stupid videos we watched."

"Not how to change nappies, obviously," Aoba pointed out, and Noiz could indeed see that the fresh nappy he'd put on Luca was slipping down his tiny hips. He must have been pouting, because Aoba laughed. "Don't worry, we'll get better at this."

"I know," Noiz murmured in reply, and the pair fell into a comfortable silence while Luca and Oliver fed. Noiz had realized quickly that there was probably hundreds of small things that he could find out about his sons, even though they were still extremely young; of course there were obvious things like who they resembled most on first glance, but there were many other things that were only noticeable at certain times. Right now, he was watching Oliver feed and he quickly noticed the tiny dimple that appeared on his chin as he drank the formula from the bottle's teat. Although nearly everyone had been quick to point out that their younger son strongly resembled both his namesake and Noiz, Noiz knew that that particular feature was something he'd inherited from Aoba. The tiny, wispy strands of hair that stuck out from Oliver's head at odd angles were from Aoba too, and they tickled the tips of Noiz's fingers as he reached out to touch them. In the same way, Aoba swore that Luca had more in common with Noiz in terms of facial features than with himself, but Noiz didn't see it at all. About the only feature on Luca he could match with his own aside from eye colour was his nose; it was just that little bit more prominent than his little brother's, was more pointed where Oliver's was rounder. It would be interesting to see if their appearances would change as their sons grew, and if their opinions would change with them.

Oliver finished his bottle first -- he definitely had a healthy pair of lungs and a healthy stomach if his crying and appetite were anything to go by -- and Noiz had him burped and settled down in one of the bassinets before Luca had even finished his bottle. About a minute later, Aoba decided that Luca was just less hungry than his brother and burped him, fixed his loose nappy and put him down to sleep too. They'd been told that newborns spent the majority of their time sleeping, but the speed with which their sons fell asleep was admirable. As tempting as it was to just stare at them all night, it was getting late and neither of them had managed to recover from the excitement of the delivery just yet; Noiz looked over at Aoba and could see with that one simple look that he was exhausted. He grabbed Aoba's hand and silently nodded to the door in answer to Aoba's questioning look. Aoba reached over to switch on the baby monitor, a brief delay before they both gave their sons a final quick look and left the room.

It was quiet between them for a few moments, and Noiz even paused at the door to the nursery to make sure that neither of their children had woken up. Aoba sighed softly, shook his head at him and held out his hand for Noiz to take, just as Noiz had done minutes before; Noiz didn't really hold it when he walked over to where Aoba was standing so much as he just intertwined their fingers, the oddly-bent joints on his ring and little fingers brushing against Aoba's palm.

There were still odd piles of clothes and forms littering their bed when they reached their own room, left behind and forgotten about on the day that they'd gone to the clinic for the delivery. Noiz let his hand drop away from Aoba's and walked over to the bed to clear the mess away. Aoba stayed at the door and watched silently as Noiz gathered the whole lot up in his arms and dumped it in the corner of the room, and Noiz knew Aoba was tired when he didn't bother to scold him over it. Pulling the covers back on the bed, Noiz slid onto his side and looked over at Aoba.

"Are you going to come to bed? Or do you want to shower first?"

"I'll do it tomorrow," Aoba replied, still standing stiffly by the door. Noiz raised his eyebrows slightly at the other man, who seemed to realize how ridiculous he must have looked and quickly approached the bed. Noiz reached over to turn on the baby monitor as Aoba made himself comfortable, but Aoba grabbed his hand to stop him before he turned the lights out.

"Noiz... I need to talk to you," Aoba said, averting his eyes to their joined hands. "About what you said before."

There was no asking if he was serious about what he said, no embarrassment or hesitation in Aoba's expression past the strange unwillingness to meet Noiz's gaze. Noiz didn't like pressuring Aoba into things when he wasn't ready or when he was unwilling to think about it, and he would have been willing to leave Aoba to think it over for a few days before he even bothered asking again.

This was important. He wouldn't have asked if he wasn't serious about it, and he knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Aoba; he just wanted to show it to Aoba too.

A sudden nervous energy washed over him, and his hand gradually tightened into a fist as the silence stretched between them. It seemed that Aoba was just as nervous, hesitant even, and it was making Noiz feel even worse.

"Noiz... I want to say yes, but I can't. Not right now."

The sick wave of worry suddenly solidified into a dead weight that seemed to rest directly in the middle of Noiz's chest. He pulled his hand away from Aoba's and refused to meet his eyes, but when Aoba brought his hands up to cup the sides of his face, effectively preventing him from avoiding him.

"Noiz, look at me."

Their eyes met, and Noiz let his eyes fall shut as Aoba leaned in to kiss him.

"I love you," Aoba said, voice calm even though his face was pink. "And I want to... I do. But now isn't the right time."

Aoba sighed, and it suddenly occurred to Noiz that he looked beyond exhausted. His eyes were red-rimmed and the skin beneath them was so purple it almost looked bruised. The pallid tone of his skin made it particularly obvious, and even his hands seemed more frail and cold, pressed as they were against his face.

As much as the initial rejection had hurt, he'd been too fast to jump to conclusions without considering _why_ Aoba had said what he'd said.

Their lives had just changed irreversibly. They had to fill a role they'd never had to fill before -- an undeniably important one -- and they had a lot to figure out before things would settle down again. 

Aoba's hands dropped away from Noiz's face, and he gasped as Noiz lunged forward and pulled him securely into his embrace. He was hugging Noiz back as soon as he recovered from the initial surprise, and they stayed like that until a telltale cry coming from the baby monitor next to the bed. Smiling as they parted, Noiz leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to Aoba's lips before he got up.

"I'll go and take care of them," he said. "Get some rest."

"Okay, okay," Aoba said, grinning as Noiz paused at the door and turned back to look at him. "What's wrong?"

"Aoba," Noiz murmured, "when things have calmed down, I'll ask you again."

If Aoba had been smiling before it was nothing compared to how he looked now, and Noiz couldn't help but smile back.

"I'll be waiting, Noiz."

The crying was getting louder, and Noiz left the bedroom to tend to their sons as Aoba laid down to rest. A few moments later Aoba heard the muffled sound of Noiz entering the nursery, the crying of whichever of their sons was crying suddenly broken up by tiny little hiccups of breath as Noiz tried to calm him. About a minute passed; it seemed that the crying hadn't woken the other twin, but it certainly wasn't stopping and the risk that it eventually would was real. A few moments later, Noiz began humming a strangely familiar tune softly under his breath, and it seemed to be working because the crying was gradually fading away.

Aoba smiled and listened to the sound of Noiz's voice through the baby monitor as the crying calmed and slowly wound down to silence. He never really got the chance to hear Noiz's voice like this, but he could definitely get used to it. The tune was slightly upbeat and had a rather grand feel to it, like it was designed to make you feel excited at the start of a new adventure. 

It all seemed appropriate in Aoba's mind until he realized exactly _where_ he'd heard the music, and he had to put his pillow over his face to muffle his laughter, unable to contain his amusement even as the healing incision on his lower abdomen began to ache and pull.

Really, the Rhyme login music?

"Oi."

Aoba's laughter stopped when he heard Noiz's hushed words through the baby monitor.

"I can hear you laughing from here, Aoba."

As much as he tried to prevent it, Aoba couldn't help but laugh harder at the embarrassed tone in Noiz's voice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few notes on the logic behind what Tae told them:
> 
> Basically, Aoba's ability to reproduce was an experimental feature Toue gave him while he was being created. He intended to make more magical sense babies aside from Sei and Aoba in that way if there was no other but discovered how to make an artificial version of mind control in the meantime, which is what the Alphas and Clear have. 
> 
> So yeah, Aoba can get mpreg coz designer baby.
> 
> Oh, and Tae didn't tell Aoba he has a big brother. I think the guilt ran a little too deep there. 
> 
>  
> 
> The next chapter is the last one! Please look forward to it.


	11. Begin

Noiz stared at the woman sitting in front of him and held back the sigh that threatened to leave his body. If he had to do things like this every day, it would easily be his least-favourite part of the job.

It was one thing to be expected to make small talk with visitors from business partners the company had during official meetings, but it was another entirely to be expected to babysit them while the meetings they were supposed to be attending were prepared. Whatever department or person had messed this up was probably going to pay for it later on, but for now he had to do what Oliver had told him to do. Or rather, begged him to do. At least the meeting was the last thing on his schedule for the day, so he'd be able to leave once it was done.

The woman in front of him looked to be about the same age as his own mother, with hair streaked with grey and a borderline arrogant sort of air about her, an attitude Noiz had become all too familiar with since he had returned to Germany and become associated with his family's dealings again. Although she obviously thought she was being subtle about it, Noiz could see her eyes moving around the room and taking in her surroundings. There wasn't really much for her to see; although Oliver now ran the company, their father's legacy still lived on in the professional, impersonal style in which the building had been decorated. Perhaps all you could take away from their surroundings was that it was designed to limit the distractions that employees would have from working.

Noiz watched the woman's eyes scan the area over his head, and her face suddenly broke into a smile.

"What a lovely picture."

Noiz hummed and spun around on his chair, following her line of sight and expecting it to land on the large, boring painting of a vase of flowers that hung behind his desk. Instead he was surprised to realize that her gaze was aimed lower, at the small framed piece of rumpled drawing paper beneath it.

"Thank you," Noiz replied, feeling slightly warmer towards the woman already. "My sons drew it for me."

"Oh, you're so young and you're already working so hard, and you have children to support too. How admirable! It's not often you see one as young as you with more than one, either."

"It couldn't be helped," Noiz said, smiling lightly as he stared at the picture. "They're twins. Their second birthday was the weekend before last. Here."

Noiz reached over his desk and grabbed a framed photograph from the space next to his phone and the pot of garish flowers that Oliver insisted be on every employee's desk.

"This is from when then they were about eighteen months old."

The woman gasped as she took the photo. "How precious! I'm surprised you were able to find cute coats with rabbit ears on the hoods like those..."

"Ah, those. They were custom-made."

"... I see," the woman replied, her smile faltering just a little. "All my children are grown up now, but my eldest daughter just had her first child. It makes me feel young again."

Noiz nodded in response, but his gaze was still fixed on the picture that Oliver and Luca had drawn for him. Aoba had had it framed and given it to him jokingly as a Valentine's gift earlier that year, and so he'd taken it and put it in his office so he could think of the three of them while he was stuck at work. The picture itself was hard to describe, but he could tell that all the artistic skill his sons could possibly muster had been put into it. 

There was what he assumed was a house -- even though they still lived in an apartment -- in the background, which was about the same size as the large blue blob of dark blue paint in the corner that he had assumed was supposed to be Ren. An Usagimodoki three times the size of the house was drawn on the other upper corner. Two vaguely human shapes, one with blue hair and one with orange, were standing in the middle of the paper, and two smaller figures with the same hair colours stood by their sides. Noiz had assumed that he and Aoba were the larger people but he'd been corrected quickly and rather angrily by Oli and Lu, who had assured him that he and Aoba were actually the small ones. To top the picture off, it seemed his sons had emptied what looked like an entire tube of pink glitter glue onto the middle of the paper. Most of it had flaked off and now rested in the bottom of the frame.

"Hmm, I can tell that you aren't really focused on me."

Noiz snapped out of his daydream and turned his attention back to his guest. "Sorry."

"No, it's fine," the woman said, smile growing wider as she handed back the photograph Noiz had given her. "We're not conducting business right now. I can tell you love them very much. You must be proud."

Noiz's smile was small but genuine as he took the photograph and put it back in its place.

"Yes, I am."

* * *

"Well," Oliver sighed, looking so relieved that Noiz thought he might simply pass out and fall asleep. "That went much better than expected. After that disaster this morning..."

"You shouldn't worry so much," Noiz replied, nodding in thanks as Oliver's secretary came to clean away the near-untouched plates of snacks in the middle of the boardroom's table.

"And you don't worry enough," Oliver replied immediately, giving his brother a sarcastic look. "If something had happened..."

"But it didn't, so forget about it," Noiz said, cutting his brother off. "The one you sent to me seemed happy enough despite the mistake. She just spent the time asking about Lu and Oli and talking about her new grandchild."

"Oh, ah..." Oliver said, suddenly trying to look as casual as possible. It contrasted sharply with the stern look Noiz had been on the receiving end of just before, and he knew exactly what his brother was going to say before it even left his lips.

"It's been a while since I saw the boys, right?"

"It's been less than a fortnight. You were at their birthday party."

"Yeah, a long time," Oliver said, sounding distracted. "I don't have anything planned for the afternoon now that this meeting has been taken care of, and you'd be going home too, right Noiz?"

It was obvious where this was leading. "Yeah."

"Is Aoba busy this afternoon?"

Noiz glanced at his Coil. "He's got to pick Oli and Lu up from their half-day at kindergarten, but they would have finished about twenty minutes ago now. The brats might be napping when we get there, though."

"They're not brats! And I didn't..." Oliver started, but Noiz shook his head.

"Aoba's started buying that brand of tea you like every Friday because he knows you always end up coming over after work."

Oliver blushed a little, snatching his briefcase from the table in a way that was almost defensive. Noiz smiled and grabbed his own briefcase and jacket, tossing the latter over his shoulder.

"I'll send Aoba a message once I get back to my office then meet you in the parking lot."

"Okay," Oliver muttered, still looking embarrassed as he edged out of the room. Noiz shook his head, wondering how the same person had just secured an extremely beneficial partnership for their company without showing a single moment of weakness or stress.

* * *

"Are you sure that Aoba said this was okay?" Oliver asked, standing behind Noiz as he opened the door to his apartment.

"He said the twins were riled up and maybe playing with you would calm them down, so I assume so," Noiz said with a shrug. The lock clicked open and Noiz pushed the door open with a relieved sigh.

"I'm home."

There was no answer to his greeting, and Noiz frowned a little as he dropped his coat and briefcase in the doorway.

"Aoba?"

"Is everything..." Oliver started, but he was interrupted as the muffled sound of tiny footfalls came from inside the house, gradually growing louder as they approached Noiz and Oliver.

A second later, the younger Oliver came skidding around the hallway corner and into view. His hair stood up at odd angles and his golden eyes were alight with excitement as he dashed towards his father and uncle, his one piece pyjamas hanging off him down to the waist thanks to Ren, who was holding onto the hem of them with his teeth.

"Noiz, please stop him," Ren said with a great deal of effort, his paws slipping against the polished wood of the floor as he tried to hold Oli back.

"Right," Noiz said, and as Ren let go of the material of the pyjamas he bent down and scooped up his younger son in his arms. "Where do you think you're going, hmm?"

Oli squealed and thrashed around in Noiz's arms, reaching out for the open door with tiny hands and a desperate look of glee.

"Out!"

"Hmm? You've just been out," Noiz said, struggling to keep as firm hold on Oli as the boy squirmed. "I think it's nap time."

"Nooooo," Oli replied, his mood turning sour the instant that Noiz closed the front door. "Out, Vati! _Out!_ "

"I don't think so," Noiz sighed, and he used his free hand to stroke the back of his son's head as he began to cry. Oliver stood awkwardly to the side, attempting to make weird faces at his nephew when he poked his head over Noiz's shoulder to cheer him up.

"Oli?!" 

Aoba's distraught voice came from further inside the house; he'd apparently just become aware of Oli's absence, or distress, or both. Noiz called back to reassure him.

"I've got him."

"Noiz?" Aoba called back, and a moment later he appeared in the hall with a hyperactive-looking Luca on his hip. "I didn't hear you come in! Welcome home. And it's nice to see you, Oliver."

"It's good to see you too," Oliver grinned. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," Aoba said with a sigh, although he was still smiling. "The kindergarten thought finger painting was a good idea, so they decided to finger paint each other. I was just giving them a bath and then I was going to put them down for a nap, but..."

Aoba looked at his youngest son, who was still crying and clinging to Noiz's shirt. Luca had since noticed the presence of his other father and uncle and was now reaching out to them from Aoba's arms.

"I don't think they're gonna sleep now," Aoba sighed again as he walked over to Noiz and held Luca out to him. "Let's swap. I'll take Oli and calm him down. Lu wants to go with you, Noiz."

"Oliver, please follow me," Ren said, trotting over to stand at the man's feet. "I will keep you company while Aoba and Noiz are attending to the twins."

"Okay, Ren" Oliver replied, and he smiled as Noiz and Aoba swapped babies and began to head down the hall. "I'll be waiting!"

Noiz nodded as he turned the corner towards his and Aoba's bedroom, following the other man up to the point where the hall branched off into the separate rooms.

"Oi, Aoba."

"Wha..." Aoba started, but he was cut off as Noiz's lips pressed against his own. " _You...!_ "

"I'll be out soon," Noiz said, and he smirked as he shut the bedroom door. Once he was inside, he pressed a quick kiss to Luca's forehead and put him down on the middle of the bed.

"Stay there, okay?"

"Okay," Luca said, and he immediately began to crawl towards the edge of the bed when Noiz turned his back to him. By the time Noiz had changed into more casual attire, Luca had slid off the edge of the bed and walked over to grab onto his father's leg. 

"Oi, didn't I say to stay put?" Noiz said, trying to sound stern. Luca shook his head and held his hands up to Noiz, reaching for him.

"Up, Vati."

Noiz hesitated for a moment, but Luca's hopeful expression made the mild irritation that had developed at his disobedience rush out of Noiz's mind. He smiled as he bent down and picked up his eldest son, grunting with the effort as he shifted Luca's weight to shift to his side and pressed a kiss to the top of his head.

"You're getting too big for this, Lu."

"No," Luca replied stubbornly.

"Were you good for Papa today?"

The soft strands of Luca's hair tickled the sensitive skin beneath Noiz's chin as he nodded.

"Was your brother good?"

Luca shook his head rapidly. "No, Oli's bad!"

Noiz laughed softly as he left the room, his smile growing as Luca's arms wrapped around his neck in a slightly suffocating hug. 

"Come on, let's go find Papa, Oli and your uncle."

As Noiz approached the lounge area, the sound of Oliver's wild laughter reached his ears. As he turned the corner and the rest of his family came into view, he caught sight of Oli splayed over Aoba's lap, his tummy exposed and his limbs flailing wildly as Aoba blew raspberries on his skin. Luca immediately began squirming in Noiz's embrace.

"Vati, me too!"

"I can't do that," Noiz said, smiling as Luca's face fell. "How about tickles?"

"No!" Luca gasped, but his face split into a wide smile and he began giggling as Noiz's fingers tickled at his sides and ribs. He managed to squirm so much that Noiz had no choice but to bend down and put him on the floor, and a second later Luca was running off at top speed towards Aoba.

"Papa, help!"

"Alright, alright," Aoba laughed, fixing Oli up as Luca came running over to him. "Do you want to watch some Happy Allfriends and have some juice?"

As Aoba left the room with both boys in tow, Noiz sighed.

"What's wrong?" Oliver asked.

"The theme song of Happy Allfriends will be stuck in your head for hours after this."

A few minutes later, Aoba returned with afternoon tea for the adults and turned on the television so that Oli and Lu could watch their favourite show. The cheerful jingle started playing just as both children settled down with their small plate of afternoon snacks and their sip cups of juice, and their eyes were immediately glued to the screen as several brightly-coloured Allmates began to dance across it.

"I think that's the quietest they've been all day," Aoba laughed softly, sitting down on the couch next to Noiz. "They're going to be exhausted later on."

"Well, I came over on the promise that I'd help with that," Oliver said, and he nodded his thanks as Aoba handed him a cup of tea. 

"Oh, speaking of that... did Noiz ask you about babysitting them for a night next weekend for my birthday? Just for a few hours while we go out for dinner."

Oliver's smile faltered. "No, he didn't mention anything."

Both men turned to face Noiz, who looked somewhat apologetic at his forgetfulness.

Aoba gave him a deadpan look. "You know it was your idea to go out for my birthday, right? And remember how you kept insisting on it even when I wasn't sure?"

"I was going to ask, but then the meeting wasn't ready to go ahead and..."

"Don't remind me," Oliver groaned. "But yes, I can look after them for a night if you want. I'm sure the cats will be happy to have someone to play with them."

"I think the cats play with them more than they play with the cats," Noiz said. The last time he'd gone to pick up his sons from Oliver's house, he'd found them quietly playing on the floor with the cats curiously pawing and sniffing them from various angles.

"Either way, everyone is entertained," Oliver said with a grin. An advertisement came onto the TV, and both Oli and Lu began picking through the snacks that Aoba had given them to eat. Oli grabbed a few slices of banana in his fist; by the time they made it to his mouth they were almost squished into a fine paste. He chewed for a second, made a face and then spat the banana back into his hand. He stood up awkwardly, smearing some of the half-eaten banana onto the blanket he and his brother were sitting on in the process, and walked over to Noiz with his hand outstretched.

"Vati."

"Hmm?"

Oli opened his palm, the mess of banana beginning to squash through his fingers. "Vati, have this."

"You don't like it?" Noiz asked, and Oli shook his head. "Go and put it on your plate."

"No. Vati, have this."

Noiz winced as Oli happily shoved the mess into his hand and went back to watching the television with his brother. Aoba tried to muffle his laughter as Noiz got up to wash his hands, but Oliver didn't bother.

"I'll be right back," Noiz sighed. Even with a handful of half-eaten food in his grasp, he managed to smile as his sons' faces lit up at something that had just happened on the TV.

* * *

"Do you want a bedtime story?"

Oli nodded sleepily, eyes already drooping shut as Noiz tucked him into bed. Luca simply yawned. Aoba grinned at the sight.

"I think that it's time for sleep." 

"No..." Oli protested tiredly; the effect was ruined by the yawn that escaped after he stopped talking. 

"Tomorrow I'll read you a story," Noiz promised, and Oliver nodded sleepily and wiped at his forehead as Noiz gave him a goodnight kiss. Aoba did the same for Luca, and they swapped sides. Luca was already asleep when Noiz reached him, so he gave him a slightly more gentle kiss before standing up, switching on the night light as he went. As they both left the room, Aoba shut the door to halfway behind them. 

"Told you they'd be out of it early tonight," he whispered as they made their way back to the lounge. Noiz nodded in agreement; it was just past seven in the evening, and it had been a challenge to keep the twins up that long. After watching the end of Happy Allfriends, both of them had played with Oliver until he'd excused himself and gone home to feed his cats, looking absolutely exhausted. After that they'd turned their attention to Ren and Usagimodoki. Ren had shown admirable patience as they'd dragged him around in their plastic cart toy, but Usagimodoki hadn't sounded very happy when Luca started building an uneven tower of all the cubes and then happily knocked it down. By the time dinner was ready both Oli and Lu looked exhausted, so after they were done eating Aoba and Noiz helped them with a quick wash-up and put them to bed.

"We have our whole evening free," Noiz murmured, smirking as he slid one arm around Aoba's waist. 

"Until they wake up in a few hours, you mean," Aoba said, giving Noiz a look of mock suspicion.

"I guess I can limit myself."

"Cheeky brat," Aoba said, smiling. "Come on."

Grinning happily, Noiz followed.

* * *

Aoba gave a soft sigh to vent some of the heat that remained in his body and kicked the sheets to the end of the bed.

"I thought you'd mellow out by now, but you're still the same insatiable brat as ever."

"Problem?" Noiz asked as he reached over to the side of the bed for a handful of tissues, which he used to clean both himself and Aoba up.

"Unfortunately not," Aoba said with a grin, squirming as Noiz's fingertips brushed across his lower belly. "That tickles!"

"Sorry," Noiz muttered, his eyes briefly following the scar that ran along Aoba's abdomen. It had started off looking rather large and angry, but over the years it had dulled to a white line. There were still a mew marks on Aoba's body where the pregnancy had stretched his skin, but most of them had faded too. Noiz was glad that everything had gone well for them despite the unusual circumstances; both Oliver and Luca seemed to be going from strength to strength too, so it had all gone much better than expected.

"Noiz, are you okay?"

"Yeah," Noiz said, tossing the tissues in his hand towards the bin and lying down next to Aoba. "Just thinking."

"Yeah... I've been doing that too," Aoba said, sitting up a little so he could look at Noiz properly. "I feel like recently, everything is falling into place so much easier than before."

"How so?"

"Well, Oli and Lu are settling into their routine better, everything is going well for you and Oliver at work..." Aoba said, looking away as he tried to think. "Chasing the two of them around is keeping me busy, though. But I'm happy, because it means they're healthy."

Aoba blushed just a little, and Noiz quirked a brow at him.

"What's wrong?"

"Ah, I was just thinking," Aoba said, blush darkening, "about something you said."

He let out a small sigh and looked back at Noiz.

"That question you asked me on the day we brought the twins home... why haven't you asked me again?"

Noiz's face went blank, and he blinked a few times before laughing softly and reaching up to kiss Aoba.

"What's with that reaction?!" Aoba snapped, words muffled by Noiz's lips. "Stop trying to distract me, kid!"

"No, it's just..." Noiz started, pausing to catch his breath as Aoba pouted and folded his arms over his chest. Aoba's expression changed to one of confusion.

"What?"

Noiz, having finally caught his breath, looked up at Aoba with eyes full of emotion.

"Why do you think I wanted to take you out to dinner for your birthday so badly?"

"... ah," Aoba said, his face growing redder by the second. Apparently embarrassed by his own lack of reaction, he tried to find more words to say but no sound left him as he opened his mouth. Noiz was still smiling at him, though there was a definite note of smugness there too.

"You can't wait until then?"

"W-well, I didn't know," Aoba muttered, face still red, and Noiz simply smiled wider in response. "But now..."

"Aoba."

Aoba moved to look at him properly, and Noiz slid his hand to the nape of Aoba's neck and kissed him once, slowly.

"Aoba..."

Aoba hummed under his breath as he leaned in again, catching Noiz's lips with more passion this time. When they pulled away, Noiz was just a little surprised to see tears in Aoba's eyes.

"Noiz... I love you."

Noiz smiled back, wanting to put all of his love and affection for the other man into his reply; after all, this was a moment they'd remember forever. Just as he opened his mouth to speak, there was a loud thump on the locked bedroom door that drew their attention away from each other.

"Papa! _Vati_!"

Aoba broke into a tearful smile, and Noiz smiled back as he pulled away and got out of bed to open the door. He picked up Aoba's underwear and tossed it to him, and pulled his own on before opening the door to let Oliver and Luca inside. Both twins immediately scrambled up onto the bed -- Luca with a little more difficulty thanks to the stuffed rabbit under one of his arms -- and crawled up to the head of the bed where Aoba was sitting. Noiz followed after them and got back into bed with the rest of his family. It was getting harder to fit all four of them in the bed now, but they still managed it.

Oliver looked up at Aoba and frowned.

"Papa, are you sad?"

Aoba shook his head and leaned over to hug both of their sons.

"No, I'm very happy."

Oliver looked confused by this, but Luca didn't seem troubled.

"Happy? Why?"

Noiz smiled down at his family and slid his arms around them too; one rested on Aoba's back, and the other around Oliver and Luca. This was all he'd ever wanted for as long as he could remember; a family who loved him unconditionally, and who he loved equally in return.

Grinning even more at Aoba as Oli and Lu looked confused, Noiz hugged all three of them just a little tighter.

"Vati and Papa are going to get married."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Vati" is pretty much the equivalent of saying "daddy" in German.
> 
>  
> 
> Thank you to everyone who's stuck with this fic to this point. I never imagined it getting as long as it did, and I definitely didn't think it would be this popular. My main goal with this fic was to give Noiz the family that he always needed and deserved, and I feel I reached that goal, so I'm satisfied even if the feeling of finishing the story is bittersweet.
> 
> There _might_ be a one-shot sequel to this fic sometime in the future, detailing what happens at Noiz and Aoba's wedding day. If it does come to be, please enjoy it. If not, I hope you enjoyed the conclusion of this fic, and thank you for giving it a chance!


End file.
